\V7AV 


WAYS  TO  LASTING  PEACE 


WAYS  TO 
LASTING  PEACE 


By 
DAVID  STARR  JORDAN 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT  1916 
THE  BoBBS-MfcRRiLL  COMPANY 


PRESS   or 

•  HAUNWORTH   *    CO. 
BOOKIINDEH8    AND     PHINTI 
BROOKLYN,    N.    V. 


I  can  not  help  thinking  qf  you  as  ye 
deserve t  0  ye  governments.— THOREAU. 

Wrong  is  never  so  weak  as  in  its  hour  of 
triumph.— THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

This  little  book  contains  the  address  of  the  President 
of  the  World's  Peace  Congress  given  on  October  10, 
1915,  in  the  Greek  Theater  at  Berkeley,  California,  at 
the  session  held  in  connection  with  the  International 
Panama- Pacific  Exposition.  To  this  address  as  delivered 
certain  additions  have  been  made  in  order  to  bring  the 
matter  contained  up  to  the  date  of  publication. 

It  is  an  effort  to  summarize  the  most  important  of  the 
various  propositions  which  have  been  made  during  the 
Great  War  to  secure  Lasting  Peace  at  the  end  of  the 
conflict. 

I  express  my  continuous  obligation  to  my  wife,  Jessie 
Knight  Jordan,  for  help  both  critical  and  constructive. 
I  am  also  indebted  to  my  kinsman,  Professor  Harvey 
Ernest  Jordan,  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  for  a  crit- 
ical reading  of  proof-sheets. 

It  is  fair  to  recall  the  words  of  Doctor  Alfred  H .  Fried 
to  the  effect  that  peace-workers  are  not  firemen  called 
in  to  put  out  a  fire  which  was  not  of  their  setting.  They 
are  rather  agents  of  fire-proof  material  for  construction 
which  if  generally  used  would  make  conflagration  im- 
possible. 

D.  S.  J. 

Stanford  University 

October  23,  1Q15 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB 

I   THE  PRESENT  CRISIS 1 

The  Struggle  of  the  Twentieth  Century     .  2 

The  Three  Meanings  of  Peace     ....  3 

The  Prospect  of  Universal  Defeat    ...  6 

Motives  of  the  War .  7 

The  Reaction  Against  Democracy     ...  7 

II   DEMOCRATIC  CONTROL  OF  WAK 16 

Analysis  of  Propositions  for  Lasting  Peace  16 

The  Union  of  Democratic  Control     ...  20 

The  Committee  of  Switzerland     ....  28 

Social  Democracy  of  South  Germany     .     .  30 

World  Peace  Foundation 37 

The  International  Bureau  of  Peace      .     .  40 

The  World  Map 45 

The  Socialists  of  America      .....  46 

The  Socialists  of  Northern  Europe      .     .  51 

The  Socialists  of  the  Allied  Nations     .     .•  52 

The  Independent  Labour  Party     ....  52 

Social  Democrats  of  Austria  and  Hungary  54 

Social  Democrats  of  Germany     ....  55 

The  British  Friends 59 

The  League  to  Limit  Armaments     ...  61 

The  Anti-War  Council  of  Holland     ...  63 

The  New  York  Peace  Society      ....  77 

The  World  Union 77 

A  League  of  Peace 78 

The  Foundations  of  a  League  of  Peace  .     .  79 

The  League  to  Enforce  Peace      ....  107 

The  League's  Proposals     ......  110 

A   Congress   of   Neutrals  proposed   in  the 

Pan-American  Union 121 

The  Commission  of  Inquiry     .     .     .  125 


CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTEB  PAGB 

III  WOMEN  AND  WAR 129 

The  Woman's  Peace  Party 129 

The  Women  of  Norway 132 

The  Women's  Congress  at  Berne      .     .     .  132 

Mediation  without  Armistice 133 

The  Mediatory  Commission  of  Neutrals     .  138 

The  International  Committee  of  Women     .  145 

Constructive  Peace 156 

The  School  Peace  League 157 

IV  RESOLUTIONS  OF  CONGRESSES 158 

National  Education  Association     ....  158 

International  Peace  Congress 161 

The  Peace  Alliance  of  Australia   ....  170 

The  Japanese  Peace  Society 171 

The  International  Union  of  Ethical  Soci- 
eties    171 

The  European  Federation  for  Peace  .     .     .  172 

V   PEACE  MANIFESTOES 173 

The  Church  and  Peace 173 

The  New  Union  of  the  Fatherland     ...  180 

Prevention  of  War 181 

The  Pope's  Appeal  for  Peace 187 

VI    INDIVIDUALS  AND  PEACE 193 

Basis  of  Peace  in  Europe 193 

Plan  to  End  War 194 

Enduring  Peace 195 

The  Seizure  of  Colonies 197 

International  Government 202 

Restoration  of  Europe 203 

The  Great  Settlement 203 

Future  of  World  Peace 204 

Social  Progress 204 


CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

Insurance  and  War 204 

After  War,  What? 204 

A  Peace  Proposal 209 

Interests  of  Neutral  Nations 210 

Interchangeable  Citizenship 210 

The  American  Institute  in  Belgium   .     .     .  211 

Fundamentals  of  Peace 213 

Science  in  Personal  and  National  Right     .  216 

Changes  in  the  Map 220 

A  World-City  of  Civilization 222 

VII   THE  CASE  AGAINST  WAS 226 

The  Peace  that  Shall  Last 226 

VIII    WOBLD  FEDERATION 243 

The  Federation  of  Europe 24S 

Utopia  or  Hell 247 

The  Passing  of  Nationalism 249 

APPENDIX 252 

The  Peace  Pilgrimage 252 


WAYS  TO  LASTING  PEACE 


WAYS 
TO  LASTING  PEACE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  PRESENT   CRISIS 

ALL  over  the  world  in  these  days  most  serious 
^j^  thought  is  being  devoted  to  the  question  of 
lasting  peace.  Some  thirty  separate  plans  for  the 
organization  of  Europe  in  the  interest  of  law  and 
order  have  been  put  forth  by  societies  of  standing 
and  authority,  and  still  others  equally  important  by 
individual  men.  It  is  a  very  hopeful  sign  that  so 
many  persons  are  planning  terms  of  peace,  out- 
lines of  federations,  schemes  of  international  reor- 
ganization, all  looking  forward  to  some  sort  of  ra- 
tional settlement  which  will  make  future  wars  as 
preposterous  as  they  are  wanton  and  murderous. 
The  chief  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  present  the 
gist  of  these  proposals  and  to  attempt  an  inter- 
pretive analysis.  The  end  desired  is  to  furnish  ma- 
terial for  thoughtful  consideration. 

1 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

The  Struggle  of  the  Twentieth  Century 

At  the  end  of  the  war  we  shall  have  without 
doubt  the  greatest  intellectual  and  political  strug- 
gle since  the  Reformation.  On  the  one  hand  will 
be  those  who  hope  to  continue  the  old  war  system 
with  its  extravagant  expenditures  and  vast  bodies 
of  officers  with  their  conscript  serfs.  On  the  other 
will  be  those  who  wish  to  bring  Europe  into  some 
sort  of  federation  in  which  armaments  will  be  re- 
duced and  individual  states  will  cooperate,  instead 
of  tormenting  and  defying  one  another. 

To  continue  the  old  regime  on  the  old  basis  will 
be  impossible.  The  war  system  has  fallen  by  its 
own  weight.  The  amount  expended  on  armaments 
before  the  war,  upward  of  ten  million  dollars  a  day, 
will  be  altogether  beyond  the  resources  of  the  peo- 
ple who  do  the  paying.  The  war  debt  of  Europe, 
already  monstrous — about  twenty-eight  billion  dol- 
lars in  all — has  nearly  doubled  within  the  year,  and 
on  top  of  it  has  come  the  expenditure  of  the  war, 
including  the  waste  of  cities  and  property,  which 
has  reached  already  the  stupendous  figure  of  more 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

than  forty-five  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  a  sum 
apparently  greater  than  the  entire  farm  values  of 
all  the  United  States.  The  impoverishment  in 
money  and  in  manhood  has  carried  Europe  back 
toward  the  condition  of  utter  collapse  produced  by 
the  religious  wars  succeeding  the  Reformation. 
The  nations  are  much  richer  now  than  they  were 
then,  thanks  to  the  years  of  security  and  relative 
peace,  but  the  cost  of  making  war  has  increased  in 
these  modern  days  far  more  rapidly  than  the  na- 
tional wealth. 

It  is  certain  that  the  treaty  of  peace  will  not 
settle  all  of  the  problems  that  the  war  has  raised 
and  emphasized.  It  may  not  settle  any  of  them. 
In  any  event  the  young  men  of  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica have  resting  on  their  shoulders  the  most  impor- 
tant duty  of  many  centuries — the  duty  of  bringing 
freedom  to  the  suppressed  people  of  a  continent, 
and  lasting  security  to  a  crippled  world. 

The  Three  Meanmgs  of  "Peace" 

We  may  note  that  in  current  usage  the  word 
"peace"  has  three  different  meanings,  as  suggested 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

by  Alfred  H.  Fried.  These  we  may  describe  as  the 
peace  of  contentment,  the  armed  peace  and  the 
peace  of  constructive  action. 

The  peace  of  contentment  finds  its  ideal  in  intel- 
lectual and  physical  repose,  the  absence  of  discord- 
ant factors  and  the  harmony  of  life.  It  is  the  peace 
of  a  Corot  landscape,  of  running  brooks,  green 
thickets  and  meadows  carpeted  with  flowers.  It 
would  permit  a  happy  existence  to  "mollycoddles," 
as  well  as  to  the  "red  coat  bully  in  his  boots,"  of 
whom  Thackeray  speaks.  Its  essence  is  peace  of 
mind,  the  absence  of  "fierce  unrest  and  sordid,  low 
ambition,"  the  "old  peace  with  velvet-sandalled 
feet"  of  the  Japanese  poet.  Its  symbol  in  animal 
life  is  appropriately  found  in  the  dove. 

The  armed  peace  is  a  condition  of  balanced  hate, 
the  peace  which  comes  with  the  cessation  of  war, 
while  the  war  spirit  endures.  In  its  nature  this 
has  more  of  war  than  peace,  for  its  atmosphere  is 
fear  and  hate,  and  its  purpose  to  get  ready  for 
further  mutual  destruction.  In  the  phrase  of 
William  James,  this  form  of  peace  finds  in  war  its 
"verification."  By  its  results  we  may  be  sure  of  its 

4 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

purpose.  Professor  Grant  Showerman  finds  actual 
war  and  armed  peace  male  and  female  of  the  same 
species.  As  the  fitting  symbol  of  armed  peace,  the 
lion  and  the  eagle  have  been  long  accepted.  But 
these  animals  have  no  adequate  equipment  of  diplo- 
macy. More  fitting,  it  would  seem,  would  be  the 
figure  of  the  waiting  hyena,  for  the  armed  peace, 
as  Pierre  Loti  has  suggested,  rests  on  the  "hyena 
theory  of  nations." 

Real  peace  is  found  in  the  permanence  of  law, 
and  the  value  of  law  lies  in  the  opportunity  it  gives 
for  constructive  progress.  Peace  is  reality  in  hu- 
man history,  while  war  is  the  ruinous  negation. 
Peace  is  the  period  in  which  constructive  acts  be- 
come possible,  the  establishment  of  freedom  and 
justice,  of  education  and  sanitation,  of  commerce 
and  industry,  of  the  removal  of  barriers  and  the 
spanning  of  continents,  the  saving  of  life  and  the 
exaltation  of  spirit,  of  the  discipline  of  self-re- 
straint and  the  virtue  of  helpfulness.  For  an  ani- 
mal symbol  for  constructive  peace  we  should  seek, 
not  the  innocence  of  the  dove,  but  some  more  pow- 
erful creature  which  represents  intelligent  and 

5 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

watchful  helpfulness — the  St.  Bernard  dog,  for  ex- 
ample. 

The  Prospect  of  Universal  Defeat 

To  bring  the  great  war  to  a  close  by  any  method 
is  one  of  the  most  difficult  processes  of  which  we 
can  conceive.  To  all  appearances  both  sides  are 
defeated.  Unless  some  unforeseen  element  appears, 
the  great  war  must  end  in  a  drawn  game.  When 
this  fact  is  realized  the  ministries  of  the  nations 
deemed  aggressors  will  have  a  hard  task  to  reckon 
with  their  own  people.  The  sacrifice  without  paral- 
lel of  some  eight  millions  of  men  and  women,  of 
some  forty-five  billions  of  dollars'  worth  of  prop- 
erty, and  the  permanent  depletion  of  the  breed  of 
men  will  be  charged  to  the  gray  old  strategists,  the 
war-at-any-price  aristocracy  of  Europe  and  to  their 
associated  diplomatists.  A  great  revulsion  of 
feeling  must  ensue.  Whether  this  revulsion  at  the 
end  makes  for  reaction  and  tyranny  or  for  democ- 
racy and  betterment  only  time  can  tell.  There  are 
powerful  interests  in  all  nations  tending  in  either 
direction,  and  the  political  lines  of  the  next  half- 

6 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

century  will  be  drawn  on  the  question  of  militarism 
versus  civilism. 

Motives  of  the  War 

Of  the  many  motives  behind  the  great  war,  we 
must  recognize  that  economic  motives  and  motives 
of  international  distrust,  envy  or  hate  take  but  a 
secondary  place.  These  are  brought  forward  as 
excuses  or  justifications  or  weapons  in  argument, 
but  surely  no  nation  on  account  of  these  would  have 
ventured  to  break  the  peace  of  the  world. 

The  Reaction  Against  Democracy 

In  my  judgment  the  primal  motive  behind  the 
great  war  was  largely  internal  and  political.  It 
is  part  of  the  age-long  struggle  against  privilege. 
One  by  one  the  nations  of  Europe  have  taken  away 
the  perquisites  of  the  classes  that  rule  by  inherited 
right.  Little  by  little  in  every  nation  liberty  and 
democracy  have  encroached  on  privilege  and  aris- 
tocracy. In  every  country  "freedom  slowly  broad- 
ens down  from  precedent  to  precedent,"  and  as  free- 
dom broadens  the  scope  of  aristocracy  must  narrow. 

7 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

The  spectacle  of  an  "emperor  without  an  empire" 
has  been  increasingly  painful  to  the  military  aris- 
tocracy of  Germany.  The  spectacle  of  an  impotent 
House  of  Lords  in  Great  Britain  has  been  a  source 
of  alarm  wherever  lords  of  any  kind  assemble. 

Throughout  the  ages  war  has  been  the  sport  of 
kings,  a  hellish  amusement  designed  primarily  to 
keep  down  the  populace  and  to  divert  their  atten- 
tion from  the  abuses  of  aristocracy.  "War  pre- 
sents a  sharp  medicine  for  internal  disunion,  or 
waning  patriotism.  .  .  .  The  war  with  France 
[in  1870]  was,"  continues  Professor  Treitschke, 
"for  Germany,  indeed,  a  blessed  necessity.  .  .  . 
The  call  to  arms  dashed  all  parties  into  fragments. 
It  has  uplifted  the  hearts  of  all  good  patriots. 
They  feel  as  if  they  were  engaged  in  a  holy  war, 
a  war  for  the  liberation  of  the  world." 

In  this  Treitschke  was  quite  right.  In  every 
international  war  all  efforts  at  reform  are  sub- 
merged, all  possibility  of  consideration  of  right 
and  wrong  is  lost,  and  all  members  of  a  nation  meet 
on  the  common  ground  of  national  defense  and  the 
patriotism  of  hate.  My  fatherland,  right  or  wrong, 

8 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

becomes  the  motto,  and  the  nation  which  suppresses 
the  criticism  of  its  best  sons  and  daughters  sooner 
or  later  wakes  to  find  itself  very  much  in  the  wrong. 

"No  war,"  says  Clara  Grunsky,  "can  present  a 
clear  issue  between  right  and  wrong.  Clear  as  his 
principles  may  shine  before  him,  the  man  who  goes 
to  war  in  the  name  of  right,  if  he  will  but  lift  his 
eyes,  will  see  that  it  is  not  the  wrong  he  is  fight- 
ing, but  his  fellow  men." 

Moreover,  the  men  who  make  this  discovery  are 
silent.  Every  war  is  a  "brawl  in  the  dark,"  and 
the  men  thrown  into  the  slaughter  can  not  be 
heard.  "It  is  because  all  the  young  men,"  says 
George  M.  Trevelyan,  "are  drafted  into  the  army 
the  moment  there  is  any  sign  of  trouble,  that  there 
can  be  no  revolution  attempted  in  any  part  of 
Europe  to-day.  The  modern  militant  organization 
makes  revolution  impossible." 

The  fact  that  every  year  of  peace  marks  in  every 
country  a  stage  in  the  slow  evolution  from  mili- 
tarism to  civilism,  from  privilege  to  liberty,  from 
oligarchy  to  democracy,  has  thrown  the  tendency 
to  revolution  on  the  other  side. 

9 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Almost  every  war  in  modern  times  revolves 
around  a  conspiracy  of  the  privileged  classes  to 
revive  their  waning  power.  The  army  is  the  right 
arm  of  the  aristocracy,  as  the  state  church  is  the 
left  arm.  The  gray  old  strategists  who  look  to 
war  to  keep  their  names  alive  are  the  ready  allies 
of  privilege,  and  the  young  men  are  their  sacrifice. 
In  a  large  sense,  very  few  wars  are  international; 
men  of  all  types  of  moral  excellence  are  perforce 
on  each  side.  Each  side  has  its  own  war-makers, 
and  these  play  into  one  another's  hands.  The  real 
struggle  is  within  the  nation.  The  rebellion  in 
Ulster  had  its  roots,  not  in  Ulster,  but  in  West- 
minster, in  the  aristocratic  revulsion  against  the 
Parliament  act.  And  the  real  reason  for  the  war 
in  Europe  is  that  the  democracies,  while  correcting 
abuse  after  abuse  of  their  former  rulers,  have  left 
to  the  kings  and  the  nobility  the  one  function  of 
control  of  war-making  power.  With  these  they 
have  played  unguarded,  as  boys  sometimes  play 
with  fireworks,  and  the  result  is  the  destruction, 
more  or  less  complete,  of  the  whole  social  system 
of  Europe. 

10 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

I  do  not  propose  here  to  discuss  the  relative  guilt 
of  these  nations  for  the  crime  of  world  war.  Each 
one  must  frame  his  own  judgment  of  approval  or 
condemnation.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  in  each 
nation  a  certain  class  welcomed  war  because  there 
was  a  strong  hope  that  one  result  of  the  war  would 
be  a  powerful  reaction  against  democracy  in  na- 
tional affairs.  "Universal  service  which  has  re- 
sulted in  such  subservience  to  the  landed  inter- 
ests in  Prussia  would  be  an  effective  bulwark  in 
England  against  the  rising  tide  of  democracy  and 
the  new  tendencies  toward  social  unrest  and  equal- 
itarianism.  If  the  war  and  the  alarms  to  which 
it  has  given  rise  leave  behind  a  militant  state,  it 
is  felt  that  it  would  not  have  been  in  vain.  .  .  . 
A  nation  in  arms  would  make  its  defense  [the 
House  of  Lords]  invulnerable."* 

In  like  vein  a  young  German  nobleman,  "Karl 
von  H — ,"  writes  :f  "When  one  thinks  how  diffi- 
cult it  was  for  H.  [Heydebrand?]  to  convince  our 
Emperor  that  the  last  moment  had  arrived  for  giv- 


*  Quoted  by  Alfred  G.  Gardiner,  Atlantic  Monthly,  April, 
1915. 
t  The  Advcrul,  Bucharest,  August  21,  1915. 

11 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

ing  free  course  to  the  war,  otherwise  pacificism,  in- 
ternationalism, anti-militarism  and  the  rest  of  the 
noxious  plants  of  our  century  would  be  propagated 
to  such  a  point  that  even  our  stupid  people  (der 
dumme  Michel)  would  come  to  be  infected  with 
these  maladies.  That  would  have  been  the  finish, 
the  twilight  of  our  glowing  nobility.  We  can  lose 
nothing  by  the  war.  On  the  contrary,  we  have 
everything  to  gain.  We  can  never  sufficiently 
thank  our  Emperor  for  having  saved  the  German 
nobility  from  such  a  fate.  Even  if  the  result  of 
the  war  be  uncertain,  we  would  have  nothing  to 
lose,  for  the  people  would  never  rise  against  us. 

"We  are  going  to  be  the  absolute  masters  of  the 
world.  All  the  chimeras  and  stupidities,  like  de- 
mocracy, will  be  chased  out  of  the  universe  for  an 
infinite  time.  We  are  already  rid  of  Bebel.  We 
shall  soon  be  rid  of  that  headstrong  fellow  who  calls 
himself  Harden  and  of  all  the  fools  who  have  the 
pretense  to  impose  on  us  their  theories.  That  we 
may  finish  with  all  these  charlatans  we  must  first 
become  the  all-powerful  dictators  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
At  last,  we  have  to  purge  our  country  of  all  its 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

revolutionary  ideas  that  our  nobility  may  recover 
its  ancient  splendor,  its  power  and  its  authority." 

This  letter,  if  authentic,  as  it  seems  to  be,  must 
not  be  taken  as  typically  German  any  more  than 
the  sentiments  quoted  earlier  are  typically  British. 
Both  are  characteristic  of  a  large  section  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  war  in  any  nation.  And  it  is  this  class 
primarily,  the  war-at-any-cost  people,  among  whom 
the  movements  for  lasting  peace  find  their  principal 
opponents. 

A  German  officer,  wounded,  in  a  hospital  in  Lor- 
raine, writes  me  thus : 

"You  will  easily  know  my  view  now,  when  I  tell 
you  that  you  were  wholly  right  in  what  you  say  in 
What  Shall  We  Say?  of  January  19,  1915  .  .  . 
especially  the  last  two  paragraphs  contain  all  that 
I  would  say  and  prove  by  many  details." 

The  paragraphs  referred  to  read  as  follows : 

"If  we  want  peace  we  must  prepare  for  it,  guard- 
ing it  at  every  angle,  and  reducing,  so  far  as  we 
can,  all  war's  incentives.  When  nations  are  armed, 
a  very  few  men,  a  very  small  accident  may  turn 
the  scale.  To  lose  at  one  point  is  to  lose  at  all.  It 
13 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

is  the  armament  itself  which  is  the  true  cause  of 
war.  Trade  jealousies,  race  antipathies,  land  hun- 
gers— all  these  are  mere  excuses,  which  would  not 
of  themselves  lead  any  nation  to  fight.  It  takes  a 
vigorous  agitation,  war  scares  and  war  appeals  and 
unlimited  lying  to  get  these  taken  seriously. 

"The  safeguard  for  peace  is  the  minimum,  not 
the  maximum  of  armament.  As  to  this,  Washing- 
ton— who  warned  us  so  sagaciously  against  en- 
tangling alliances — had  also  this  word  of  caution: 
'Overgrown  military  establishments  are,  under  any 
form  of  government,  inauspicious  to  liberty,  and 
are  to  be  regarded  as  peculiarly  hostile  to  repub- 
lican liberty.' " 

It  was  said  before  our  Civil  War  that  the  union 
of  the  states  could  "not  endure  half-slave,  half- 
free."  In  like  fashion,  the  peace  of  Europe  can 
not  endure  half-slave,  half-free,  half  the  people 
with  ideals  of  liberty  and  of  duty  based  on  the  stern 
command,  the  "Categorical  Imperative"  of  the  in- 
dividual conscience,  and  half  with  ideals  of  com- 
fortable subservience  and  of  duty  based  on  the  com- 
14 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS 

mand  of  rulers  whom  they  have  not  chosen  and  for 
whom  they  have  only  a  passive  responsibility. 

In  the  days  of  Cromwell,  Pym,  Hampden,  Wash- 
ington, Mirabeau  and  Carl  Schurz,  the  inevitable 
conflict  worked  itself  out  in  civil  war,  the  democ- 
racy rising  against  its  oppressors.  In  our  day, 
when  aristocracy  is  better  entrenched  and  democ- 
racy more  powerful,  the  conflict  is  turned  into  the 
side  issue  of  international  war,  a  conflict  without 
visible  causes,  which  the  oligarchy  may  direct  while 
the  democracy  pays  and  dies. 

And  after  the  killing  is  finished  the  controversy 
must  blaze  forth,  more  fiercely  than  ever.  But  its 
final  settlement  must  rest  in  the  slow  growth  of 
law,  not  in  any  single  victory,  either  of  arms  or  of 
the  ballot. 


CHAPTER  II 

DEMOCRATIC  CONTROL  OF  WAR 

Analysis  of  Propositions  for  Lasting  Peace 

AL.  of  the  intelligent  constructive  propositions 
thus  far  proposed,  with  others  crowding  to 
the  front  in  almost  every  nation,  practically  agree 
in  essential  demands. 

They  unite  in  the  petition  for  democratic  control 
of  government  action ;  for  the  use  of  law  instead  of 
force  in  the  adjustment  of  international  disputes 
— though  most  of  them  agree  that  a  degree  of  force, 
police  rather  than  military,  should  stand  behind  the 
world  court  as  a  support  or  sanction.  They  de- 
mand the  interposition  of  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
declarations  of  war,  taking  these  out  of  the  hands 
of  any  single  man  or  any  small  group  acting  in 
secret. 

All  have  the  demand  for  a  congress  of  peoples, 
instead  of  that  gathering  of  non-representative  dip- 
lomats known  as  the  "Concert  of  the  Powers." 
16 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

They  call,  not  only  for  a  permanent  court  of  ar- 
bitration, but  also  for  a  permanent  council  for  the 
investigation  of  facts  in  international  differences. 
The  principle  of  the  admirable  "Cooling  Off  Treat- 
ies," as  negotiated  by  Mr.  Bryan,  would  be  made  a 
matter  of  general  application. 

Most  of  them  ask  for  the  revival  and  strengthen- 
ing of  The  Hague  conferences. 

All  ask  for  disarmament  to  some  degree,  and 
most  of  them  for  the  national  ownership  of  arma- 
ment manufacturing  plants,  and  the  abolition  of 
private  profits  in  armament  making. 

Most  of  them  call  for  immunity  of  private  prop- 
erty at  sea  and  the  relief  of  commerce  and  passenj 
ger  traffic  from  attack  in  time  of  war. 

Most  ask  for  international  neutralization  of  the 
channels  of  commerce,  some  for  the  neutralization 
of  coaling  stations  also. 

Most  of  them  deny  "the  right  of  conquest"  and 
ask  that  no  arbitrary  changes  of  boundary  be  made 
without  the  consent  of  the  people  immediately  af- 
fected. 

Most  call  for  the  abolition  of  secret  diplomacy, 
17 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

and  for  adequate  safeguards  against  the  possibility 
of  war  by  a  small  group  of  men. 

Most  of  them  call  for  equality  of  race,  religion 
and  language  within  the  nation. 

Some  ask  for  the  exclusion  of  military  education 
from  the  lower  schools.  It  may  here  be  noted  that 
militaristic  Prussia  has  never  allowed  military  in- 
struction to  intrude  into  any  schools  not  military. 

Some  ask  for  universal  suffrage  for  women  as 
well  as  men;  others  for  the  better  recognition  of 
manhood  suffrage. 

Some  of  them  ask  for  a  definition  of  the  duty  of 
a  nation  in  relation  to  the  exploitation  of  backward 
regions.  Exploiters  should  take  their  own  chances ; 
or,  at  the  most,  only  open  enterprises,  the  details  of 
which  are  public  property,  should  receive  the  sup- 
port of  the  nation  concerned. 

Most  favor  the  elimination  of  the  economic  causes 
of  war,  whether  such  are  real  causes  or  merely  ex- 
cuses framed  for  the  purpose  of  increase  of  arma- 
ment. 

Those  who  refer  to  indemnities  are  opposed  to 
them  under  all  circumstances  as  of  the  nature 
18 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

of  highway  robbery.  Those  who  have  discussed 
any  immediate  steps  favor  the  federation  of  all 
peace  forces,  and  the  calling  as  soon  as  practicable 
of  some  conference  in  permanent  session  to  use  its 
influence  toward  stopping  the  war. 

All  look  forward  to  social  justice,  constructive 
action  and  the  development  of  the  will  to  peace. 

None  of  these  favors  a  world  parliament  except 
as  concerning  the  broadest  international  questions, 
as  local  self-government  is  in  itself  one  of  the 
best  pledges  of  peace.  All  favor  in  one  way  or 
another  the  extension  of  the  principle  of  democracy 
but  none  would  approve  of  attempts  to  introduce 
democratic  forms  prematurely  or  by  force.  It  is 
assumed  that  world  law  will  rise  from  the  precedents 
set  by  the  international  tribunal  rather  than  from 
any  direct  action  of  a  world  law-making  body. 

In  general,  all  seem  to  realize  that  militarism 
will  not  put  an  end  to  militarism,  and  that  the  re- 
duction of  the  military  control  must  lie  with  the 
people  themselves.  They  assume  that  the  people 
are  a  more  potent  as  well  as  a  more  rational  force 
in  public  affairs  than  armies  and  navies. 
19 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

In  this  book  I  shall  consider  briefly  the  principal 
constructive  plans  for  the  permanence  of  law  and 
security  thus  far  proposed.  These  I  shall  treat 
mainly  in  order  of  time.  The  order  of  importance 
only  the  future  may  determine. 

The  Union  of  Democratic  Control 

The  oldest  of  these  is  the  Union  of  Democratic 
Control,  formed  in  London  in  September,  1914,  the 
leading  spirits  being  Norman  Angell,  author  of 
The  Great  Illusion;  Arthur  Ponsonby,  author  of 
The  Decline  of  Aristocracy;  E.  D.  Morel,  author  of 
Red  Rubber,  an  exposition  of  atrocities  in  South 
America;  J.  Ramsey  Macdonald,  a  labor  leader; 
Honorable  Lady  Emmett  Barlow,  active  in  liberal 
r\N  reforms ;  Henry  Noel  Brailsford,  author  of  The 
War  of  Steel  and  Gold;  John  A.  Hobson,  author 
of  Imperialism;  Israel  Zangwill,  author  of  The 
War  God  and  The  Melting  Pot.  With  these,  many 
other  well-known  public  men  are  associated. 

This  union,  as  its  name  indicates,  strikes  first 
and  directly  at  the  primal  cause  of  war,  the  use  of 
petty  rivalries  as  an  excuse  for  international  strife. 
20 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

It  protests  against  the  political  crime  of  leaving 
in  the  hands  of  a  very  few  men  the  power  of  de- 
claring war,  to  bring  ruin  to  a  continent. 

In  the  articles  of  union  of  the  Union  of  Demo- 
cratic Control  is  the  following  clause : 

"The  foreign  policy  of  Great  Britain  shall  not 
be  aimed  at  creating  alliances  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  the  'balance  of  power,'  but  shall  be 
directed  to  the  establishment  of  a  Concert  of  the 
Powers,  and  the  setting  up  of  an  International 
Council,  whose  deliberations  and  decisions  shall  be 
public ;  part  of  the  labor  of  such  council  to  be  the 
creation  of  definite  treaties  of  arbitration  and  the 
establishment  of  courts  for  their  interpretation  and 
enforcement." 

How  this  enforcement  should  be  carried  out  is 
not  stated.  It  points  toward  some  form  of  inter- 
national police,  wholly  subject  to  civil  authority. 
As,  however,  out  of  about  four  hundred  cases  of 
arbitration  no  nation  has  repudiated  a  decision,  it  is 
not  very  likely  that  the  use  of  force  would  ever  be 
found  actually  necessary  in  this  connection. 

'Another  clause  looks  toward  the  drastic  reduc- 
21 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

tion,  by  general  consent,  of  the  armaments  of  all 
the  belligerent  powers.  This  is  supposed  to  fol- 
low naturally  on  democratic  control  of  the  Euro- 
pean governments. 

The  success  of  this  plan  involves  leadership  on 
the  part  of  those  who  realize  that  the  old  war  sys- 
tem can  not  stand  any  longer,  and  who  believe  that 
the  "armed  peace"  must  give  way  to  a  rational  and 
more  friendly  system  of  adjustment. 

A  further  demand  is  for  the  nationalization  of 
the  manufacture  of  armament  and  the  national  con- 
trol of  all  exports  of  armament. 

The  purpose  of  this  is  to  destroy  the  influence 
of  the  most  powerful  trust  the  world  has  ever 
known — the  "War  Traders"  of  Europe.  These 
nine  leading  companies,  with  their  tentacles  and 
parasites,  controlled  the  armament  trade  of  Europe. 
And  their  frequent  partnerships  showed  a  truly  fine 
international  spirit,  knowing  no  race  antipathy,  ris- 
ing grandly  above  all  squabbles  and  above  that 
jealousy  between  nations  in  the  creation  of  which 
they  themselves  had  taken  a  leading  part. 

For  they  have  had,  in  each  country,  "Army 
22 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

Leagues,"  "Navy  Leagues"  and  subsidized  news- 
papers, all  acting  together  in  the  promotion  of  the 
one  thing  for  which  the  companies  mainly  existed 
— the  distribution  of  that  ten  million  dollars  spent 
every  day  in  Europe  for  instruments  of  destruc- 
tion, piled  up  in  the  name  of  peace  as  an  insurance 
against  war.  And  in  large  part  as  the  result  of 
this  costly  insurance,  Europe  undergoes  the  most 
ruinous  war  this  quarrelsome  world  has  ever  known ! 

It  will  not  be  an  easy  thing  to  buy  out  these 
people,  either  by  agreement  or  by  condemnation. 
It  would  very  likely  be  quite  as  easy  to  abolish  war 
as  to  get  rid  of  them.  They  have  amazing  resources 
in  the  swaying  of  governmental  action,  for  they  are 
indeed  part  of  the  administration.  It  is  not  easy 
for  a  government  to  suppress  a  concern  in  which  its 
own  leading  members  are  steskholders. 

It  is,  of  course,  possible  in  theory  for  the  gov- 
ernments to  set  up  rival  plants  and  force  those  in 
existence  to  devote  themselves  to  making  plow- 
shares and  merchant  ships.  But  it  would  be  a  very 
bold  ministry  that  would  attempt  this. 

And  yet  the  stress  of  war  has  forced  something 
23 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

like  this  on  Great  Britain.  The  government  has 
taken  possession  of  these  plants  as  it  has  of  the 
railroads,  as  a  war  necessity,  guaranteeing  a  rea- 
sonable or  rather  a  large  profit  to  the  stockholders, 
but  controlling  and  managing  the  factories  in  its 
own  interest.  Martial  law  now  prevails  every- 
where in  Europe,  and  martial  law,  being  no  law  at 
all,  allows  to  the  government  almost  any  exercise 
of  force  which  the  emergencies  of  war  seem  to  jus- 
tify. People  will  patiently  endure  anything  in  the 
way  of  governmental  usurpation  as  long  as  their 
boys  are  under  fire  in  the  trenches. 

The  Union  of  Democratic  Control  insists  most 
firmly  that  in  Great  Britain,  in  the  future,  no 
treaty  or  understanding  should  be  made  to  bind  the 
nation  or  its  officials  in  any  way,  until  ratified  by 
the  action  of  Parliament.  This  resolution  is  di- 
rected against  the  secret  treaty  and  against  all 
agreements,  understandings  or  conventions  between 
the  Foreign  Office  and  representatives  of  other  na- 
tions, not  openly  and  freely  discussed  in  Parlia- 
ment. 

The  secret  treaty  is   an  instrument   for  quick 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

work  in  emergencies.  It  is  a  cherished  tool  of  a 
"vigorous  foreign  policy,"  by  which  autocratic  na- 
tions convert  internal  disagreements  into  external 
crises.  An  autocratic  or  militant  government  needs 
to  cover  its  acts  with  secrecy,  its  power  lying 
largely  in  its  capacity  to  strike  sudden  blows.  But 
a  democracy  can  not  use  these  weapons  effectively 
nor  safely. 

The  resolution  of  the  Union  of  Democratic  Con- 
trol is  suggested  especially  by  the  experience  of 
the  Triple  Entente,  which  has  entangled  Great 
Britain  in  military  adventures  more  or  less  unfore- 
seen and  certainly  quite  undesired. 

This  "Entente,"  or  understanding,  between  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Russia  was  developed  in  1904 
and  1905,  after  the  clash  between  British  and 
French  interests  at  Fashoda  in  the  Sudan.  It  was 
primarily  the  work  of  the  French  minister,  Theo- 
phile  Delcasse,  and  his  purpose  was  the  protection 
of  France  against  the  apparently  growing  chau- 
vinism of  the  militarists  of  Germany.  The  details 
of  this  understanding  were  not  made  public,  a  fact 
which  gave  rise  to  continuous  and  severe  criticism 
25 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

of  the  conduct  of  the  Foreign  Office,  on  the  part 
of  a  large  section  of  the  British  people.  There 
was  no  serious  question  as  to  the  ability  or  the 
honesty  of  Sir  Edward  Grey,  but  a  foreign  office 
whose  operations  were  "hermetically  sealed"  and 
not  made  public  was  not  acceptable  to  British  de- 
mocracy. The  British  people  were  for  the  most  part 
very  strongly  opposed  to  military  service  on  the 
continent  and  the  furthest  limit  to  which  they  could 
be  drawn  in  that  direction  apparently  was,  in  the 
words  of  E.  D.  Morel,  that  of  "sanctioning  the 
defense  of  France,  if  wantonly  attacked  by  Ger- 
many on  an  issue  affecting  those  two  countries 
alone" 

If  the  British  position  merits  criticism,  the  real 
ground  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
its  government  allowed  itself  to  be  placed  in  a  po- 
sition in  which  war  was  the  sole  means  left  by 
which  to  save  a  friendly  neighbor.  Morel  throws 
the  blame  for  this  condition  on  secret  diplomacy. 
He  says :  "The  blood  of  our  gallant  sons  is  poured 
out  to-day  as  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  out- 
rage upon  Belgium.  But  the  time  will  come  when 
26 


the  country  will  ask  of  those  in  authority  this  ques- 
tion, 'What  did  you  do  to  prevent  this  outrage?' 
For  my  part,  I  put  that  question  now,  and  I  find  the 
answer  in  autocratic  and  secret  policy  to  which  I 
have  been  consistently  opposed  and  which  I  intend 
to  help  in  rooting  out  of  our  nation."  {The  Out- 
break of  the  War,  October  14, 1914.) 

The  Union  of  Democratic  Control  expressly  de- 


nies all  forms  of  the  "right  of  conquest."  It  insists 
that  no  province,  conquered  or  not,  shall  be  trans- 
ferred from  one  government  to  another  without  the 
affirmative  vote  of  its  population. 

This  is  fair  in  principle,  but  its  application  in- 
volves many  difficulties.  After  a  war  the  popula- 
tion of  a  conquered  province  is  likely  to  be  in  utter 
confusion.  The  people  might  find  it  dangerous  to 
vote  with  a  minority  in  opposition  to  the  domi- 
nant forces.  The  shadow  of  the  conqueror's  power 
would  be  dark  over  the  polls,  especially  when,  as 
in  Prussia,  the  vote*  must  be  expressed  aloud  and 
distinctly.  Besides  the  decision  as  to  the  nation 
preferred  does  not  tell  the  whole  story.  The  real 

*  See  page  35. 

27 


-U, 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

problem  is  that  of  the  final  status  of  the  province 
within  the  nation  to  which  it  is  attached.  In  Alsace- 
Lorraine,  for  example,  the  immediate  grievance  in 
recent  years  was  not  that  the  province  was  attached 
to  Germany  but  that  the  people  were  "second-class 
Germans,"  not  full  citizens  with  full  rights  of  self- 
government  within  the  Empire. 

The  Committee  of  Switzerland 

The  Swiss  Committee  for  the  Study  of  the  Prin- 
ciples of  a  Durable  Treaty  of  Peace,  Doctor  Ot- 
fried  Nippold,  late  of  Frankfort,  President,  has 
published  a  memorial  setting  forth  these  principles. 

This  committee,  established  in  August,  1914,  al- 
most simultaneously  with  the  League  of  Demo- 
cratic Control,  began  its  studies  on  the  following 
statement : 

"The  Treaty  of  Peace  which  ultimately  will  fol- 
low this  devastating  war  should  contain  the  funda- 
mental elements  of  the  new  era,  an  era  which  should 
guarantee  to  the  peace-loving  peoples  of  the  world 
the  impossibility  of  a  subsequent  European  conflict. 
No  work  is  more  important,  no  activity  more  imper- 
28 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

ative,  than  that  of  bringing  proper  influence  to 
bear  upon  public  opinion  and  upon  the  different 
governments  to  the  end  that  this  goal  may  be 
reached."  In  this  excellent  memorial  is  an  illumi- 
nating discussion  of  various  topics,  notably  the 
following : 

The  participation  of  the  law-abiding  or  non- 
belligerent countries  in  the  negotiations  of  the 
Treaty  of  Peace,  the  question  of  political  alliances, 
their  dangers,  their  possible  advantages,  the  ces- 
sion of  territories  or  colonies,  the  question  of  an 
understanding  concerning  armaments,  the  consoli- 
dation of  international  rule  and  basis  of  law  by 
means  of  mutual  guarantees  and  of  international 
conventions,  the  extension  of  international  law  by 
means  of  the  organization  of  mediation,  commissions 
of  inquiry,  arbitration  and  permanent  jurisdiction, 
the  neutralization  of  states  and  territories,  the  ex- 
tension of  the  right  of  neutrality  and  especially  of 
the  right  of  traffic*  of  neutrals  in  time  of  war, 


*  "There  can  not  be  sufficient  stress  laid  on  the  fact  that 
the  first  and  most  important  law  of  neutrality  lies  in  that 
the  belligerents  ought  to  take  the  greatest  care  in  respect- 
ing the  rights  of  neutrals  as  they  have  quite  enough  to  suf- 
fer from  the  war." — Hans  Wehberg  (See-Kriegsrechi). 

29 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

free  trade  in  the  colonies.  All  that  we  can  hope 
for  from  the  treaty  of  peace,  all  that  the  future  of 
Europe  can  bring  us  in  the  way  of  blessing  may 
be  summed  up  in  these  words : 

"In  future  Might  before  Right  may  no  longer 
be  the  order  of  the  day,  but  the  path  must  be 
cleared  more  and  more  for  the  domination  of  Right. 
If,  in  History  there  has  ever  been  a  moment  in 
which  one  could  work  for  the  attainment  of  this 
lofty  aim  with  success,  it  will  be  on  the  day  on 
which  the  Peace  Congress  assembles  with  the  inten- 
tion of  putting  an  end  to  the  European  war  and  of 
ushering  in  a  new  era  in  Europe." 

Social  Democracy  of  South  Germany 

The  Social  Democrats  of  South  Germany  have 
tried  to  formulate  a  basis  for  lasting  peace.  Un- 
der the  burden  of  militarism  and  during  actual  war, 
they  move  with  difficulty,  though  they  show  a  clear 
vision  as  to  the  ends  to  be  achieved.  They  give  as 
their  ultimate  aim  a  confederation  of  all  European 
states. 

This  would  raise  each  state  from  the  position 
30 


of  a  "power"  to  that  of  a  jurisdiction.  In  time 
they  would  form  the  "United  States  of  Europe" 
on  terms  resembling  those  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  but  doubtless  at  first  with  a  larger  insist- 
ence upon  states'  rights  than  the  American  com- 
monwealths have  retained. 

These  Social  Democrats  demand  the  alliance  of 
all  peaceful  states  against  aggressors,  hoping  at 
the  same  time  that  all  members  of  the  federation 
would  remain  alike  peaceful.  They  desire  an  inter- 
national parliament,  and  a  permanent  international 
commission  to  take  the  place  at  present  held  by 
diplomacy. 

The  beginning  of  such  an  international  parlia- 
ment was  made  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  the 
establishment,  through  the  efforts  of  Frederic  Passy 
and  others,  of  the  Interparliamentary  Union,  which 
has  met  every  year  until  the  present.  However, 
this  union  has  had  no  authority  to  enforce  obedi- 
ence in  matters  of  importance.  The  international 
(  f- 

parliament  as  contemplated  by  these  German  So- 
cialists would  have  the  power  to  frame  international 
statutes  and  to  uphold  them  by  force  if  necessary. 
31 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

If  such  power  were  granted  it  should  be  closely 
limited  to  measures  of  international  security.  The 
principle  of  "home  rule"  is  vitally  important  with 
people  of  varying  manners  and  customs. 

Another  demand  is  that  all  minor  international 
offenses  should  come  regularly  before  an  interna- 
tional law  court.  This  in  effect  would  make  of 
the  Tribunal  of  The  Hague  a  body  in  permanent 
session,  not  as  at  present  one  to  be  called  together 
only  for  the  settlement  of  specific  cases.  The  So- 
cial Democrats'  plan  also  has  a  clause  demanding 
that  a  people's  army,  the  Volksheer,  be  estab- 
lished, and  that  this  and  the  people's  navies  should 
be  used  only  for  defense  against  aggressors.  This 
would  rule  out  the  most  dangerous  of  all  kinds  of 
aggression — that  masquerading  under  the  name 
of  defense.  One  of  the  most  common  devices  to 
bring  on  war  is  the  preventive  attack,  justified  as 
a  necessity  to  strike  first  in  order  to  forestall  an 
attack  by  the  enemy.  They  ask  for  an  interna- 
tional police  to  guard  the  borders  as  the  national 
police  maintain  peace  in  internal  affairs.  The  dif- 
ference between  a  police  and  an  army  is  this:  the 
32 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

police  is  absolutely  subject  to  the  civil  authority 
while  the  army  in  action  knows  no  outside  control. 

In  the  interests  of  commerce  and  justice  the  Ger- 
man Social  Democrats  demand  the  international 
possession  and  control  of  all  the  narrow  channels 
and  canals  through  which  the  world's  trade  must 
pass.  They  enumerate,  as  such  channels,  the  Bos- 
porus, the  Dardanelles,  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and 
the  Suez  and  the  Kiel  Canals. 

They  ask  either  that  every  nation  should  resume, 
at  the  end  of  the  war,  its  former  territory,  or  that  if 
any  changes  are  to  be  made  in  boundaries  as  the 
result  of  the  war,  then  that  the  people  of  the  dis- 
trict affected  should  vote  as  to  the  nation  with  which 
they  wish  to  cast  their  lot. 

The  districts  mentioned  in  this  connection  are 
Alsace,  Lorraine — enumerated  separately — Schles- 
wig,  Poland,  the  Baltic  provinces  of  Russia,  Fin- 
land, and  the  Trentino,  the  latter  being  one  of  the 
three  "unredeemed  provinces"  of  Italy,  now  under 
Austrian  rule.  The  other  portions  of  "Italia  Ir- 
redenta," Trieste  and  Istria,  are  not  mentioned. 

In  all  governments,  the  plan  continues,  there 
33 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

should  be  a  guarantee  of  democratic  control,  in- 
cluding equality  in  population  of  all  voting  dis- 
tricts, with  a  redistricting  every  ten  years.  Pro- 
portional representation  and  the  payment  of  all 
members  of  assemblies  are  also  asked  for. 

These  demands  are  intended  to  correct  the  ex- 
traordinary conditions  which  prevail  in  Prussia.  In 
the  Prussian  Landtag,  for  instance,  the  deputies 
are  chosen  by  immediate  electors  or  Wahlmdnner. 
These  are  voted  for  directly  but  under  circum- 
stances that  prevent  the  people  at  large  from  ever 
coming  into  control.  Of  these  Wahlmdnner,  one- 
third  are  chosen  by  the  people  who  pay  the  first 
third  of  the  taxes,  one-third  by  those  who  pay  the 
second  third  of  the  taxes,  and  the  remaining  third 
by  the  people  at  large.  In  the  city  of  Neustadt, 
in  Silesia,  for  example,  a  single  wealthy  manufac- 
turer chooses  one-third  of  the  whole  Board  of  Elec- 
tors (which  body  is  in  turn  to  name  all  the  deputies 
to  the  Landtag),  his  partner  and  another  rich  man 
together  choose  the  second  third,  leaving  only  the 
final  third  to  be  chosen  by  the  people  at  large 
— that  is,  some  twenty-five  thousand  individuals. 
34 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

These,  even  by  voting  together  unanimously,  can 
never  control  more  than  one-third  of  the  Board  of 
Electors  and  none  whatever  of  the  chosen  delegates. 
Usually  the  first  and  second  groups  are  composed 
of  the  nobility  and  wealthy  financiers  or  industrial- 
ists. These  ordinarily  caucus  together,  insuring 
under  all  circumstances  a  clear  two-thirds  majority 
for  the  conservative  group.  It  is  said*  that  in 
Prussia  at  large,  the  first  class  controls  about  two 
hundred  thousand  votes,  the  second  nine  hundred 
thousand,  the  third  over  six  million. 

Besides  all  this  there  has  been  no  readjustment 
of  electoral  districts  in  forty  years  or  more,  and 
a  great  many  large  centers  of  population,  which 
are  also  centers  of  unrest,  have  no  more  repre- 
sentation than  a  country  village.  "The  Prus- 
sian parliament  is  necessarily  devoted  to  agrarian 
interests  and  tends  sadly  to  neglect  the  just  claims 
of  the  23,000,000  Prussians  who  constitute  the 
industrial  population."!  Moreover  every  voter 
must  cast  his  vote  orally  and  loud — "mundlich  und 


*  Charles  Tower :   Germany  of  To-day. 

tiwa, 

35 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Tclar,"  the  law  reads — there  you  have  the  outlines  of 
the  situation  which  the  German  Socialists  have  a 
reasonable  desire  to  correct.  This  plan  was  de- 
scribed by  Bismarck  himself  as  "the  wretchedest  of 
all  systems,"  although  it  is  acceptable  to  the  Junker 
group  of  Eastern  Prussia. 

Baden,  "the  model  duchy,"  has  the  secret  ballot 
and  manhood  suffrage — one  man,  one  vote. 

In  the  imperial  Reichstag  of  Germany  ordinary 
manhood  suffrage  exists.  But  here  again  there 
has  been  no  redistricting ;  and  the  Reichstag  itself 
has  no  real  authority,  being  a  "debating  society" 
with  no  actual  control  over  the  policies  of  the  Em- 
pire or  over  the  action  or  the  personnel  of  the 
imperial  ministry.  Should  it  refuse  to  vote  appro- 
priation of  funds  the  assignment  of  the  previous 
year  holds. 

The  payment  of  members  of  legislative  bodies 
would  make  it  possible  for  the  representatives  of 
labor  to  take  a  more  active  part  in  government 
affairs. 

In  addition,  the  Social  Democrats  urge  that  at 
the  end  of  the  war  no  indemnity  whatever  shall  be 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

asked  or  given.  One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  mod- 
ern warfare  is  this,  that,  following  the  example  of 
Bismarck,  who  vainly  attempted,  as  he  said,  to 
"bleed  France  white,"  the  nations  have  hoped  to  re- 
plenish their  coffers  by  forced  indemnity — in  other 
words,  by  highway  robbery. 

With  the  Social  Democrats,  as  with  the  Union  of 
Democratic  Control  in  England,  no  immediate  ac- 
tion is  urged,  because  each  group  recognizes  that 
there  is  no  visible  way  of  bringing  to  bear  any  in- 
fluence toward  an  immediate  ending  of  the  war. 
"Our  purpose,"  says  a  member  of  this  group,  Clara 
Zetkin,  of  Stuttgart,  "is  Peace,  lasting  Peace,  and 
therewith  no  violation  of  the  dignity  or  independence 
of  any  nation.  No  annexation,  no  humiliating  con- 
ditions. .  .  .  Leave  the  world  free  for  the  fra- 
ternity of  the  people  and  for  their  co-operation  in 
bringing  to  flower  the  culture  of  international  civ- 
ilization." 

World  Peace  Foundation 

The  next  constructive  program,  in  order  of  time, 
and  probably  the  first  of  all  to  be  actually  printed, 
is  that  of  the  World  Peace  Foundation,  founded 
37 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

by  the  late  Edward  Ginn,  with  headquarters  in  Bos- 
ton. This  statement,  written  by  Professor  Charles 
H.  Levermore,  was  modified  and  extended  by  a  com- 
mittee consisting  of  Edwin  D.  Mead,  Hamilton 
Holt,  James  A.  Macdonald,  Charles  R.  Brown, 
Joseph  Swain,  George  W.  Nasmyth,  Albert  G.  Bry- 
ant and  the  writer. 

This  plan  calls  for  a  European  Concert,  with  a 
representative  council,  in  place  of  entangling  alli- 
ances and  ententes. 

With  the  present  machinery  of  diplomacy,  at 
The  Hague  conference  and  elsewhere,  it  is  very  dif- 
ficult to  secure  representatives  who  will  deal  with 
one  another  sincerely  and  in  the  real  interests  of 
the  peace  of  Europe.  The  failure  of  the  Concert  of 
the  Powers  was  glaringly  evident  in  the  Treaty  of 
London  and  other  incidents  of  the  Balkan  war. 
The  compromises  it  reached  satisfied  nobody  and 
the  establishment  of  Albania  as  a  separate  king- 
dom under  a  German  prince  brought  on  at  once  the 
second  Balkan  war. 

The  Foundation  asks  for  a  drastic  reduction  of 
armament,  for  the  end  of  the  military  rivalry  be- 
38 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

tween  nations,  and  for  the  nationalization  of  the 
manufacture  of  armament. 

If  nations  must  make  war  or  must  defend  them- 
selves by  national  action,  they  should  in  the  same 
fashion  make  their  own  machinery  of  defense; 
either  making  war  an  exclusive  function  of  govern- 
ment, or  else,  as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  turning  the 
whole  business,  fighting  and  all,  over  to  private 
enterprise.  It  might  cost  more,  even  much  more, 
for  the  government  to  manufacture  its  own  arma- 
ment, but  it  would  rid  itself  of  a  cancerous  growth 
of  armament  speculation. 

It  asks  also  for  an  international  police  to  protect 
all  the  nations  alike  from  outlaws  and  from  pirates ; 
and  that  no  territory  shall  be  transferred  with- 
out the  consent  of  its  people.  It  demands  .the  open 
and  democratic  control  of  treaties  and  of  foreign 
policies.  It  urges  that  citizens  of  neutral  nations 
be  not  allowed  to  make  loans  to  belligerents. 

The  Foundation  suggests  no  steps  for  immediate 

action,  for  at  the  time  it  was  not  possible  to  devise 

any  way  of  reaching  the  war-making  authorities 

in  the  leading  nations.    All  that  can  be  done  as  yet 

39 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

is  to  declare  a  stand  in  opposition  to  war  and  in 
favor  of  fair  play  and  democratic  control.  These 
views  may  reach  Europe  through  private  letters, 
through  resolutions  and  through  the  press.  For 
the  present  America's  actions  must  be  wholly  op- 
portunist, keeping  out  of  the  fight  herself,  reducing 
enmities  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  and  opposing  any 
line  of  action  which  looks  toward  the  right  of  con- 
quest or  toward  the  humiliation  or  dismemberment 
of  any  of  the  nations  concerned  in  the  war.  This 
latter  may  not  apply  to  Turkey,  who  has  long  since 
outworn  her  rights  in  Europe. 

The  International  Bureau  of  Peace 

The  Bureau  International  de  la  Palx,  at  Berne, 
of  which  Senator  Henri  La  Fontaine,  of  Brussels, 
is  president,  has  developed  a  program  as  to  the  re- 
construction of  Europe. 

This  demands  that  all  the  nations  of  Europe 

should  take  part  in  the  final  treaty  of  peace ;  that 

the  third  Hague  Conference,  which  was  due  in 

1915,  be  called  immediately  after  peace  is  made,  and 

40 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

that  a  joint  tribunal  be  established  on  a  juridical 
basis,  supported  by  all  the  states  collectively. 

A  juridical  basis,  or  basis  of  law,  is  a  little  dif- 
ferent from  that  on  which  some  of  The  Hague  deci- 
sions have  been  rendered.  In  a  tribunal  which  does 
not  cross-examine,  there  is  always  a  tendency  to 
split  the  difference  between  the  claims  of  the  con- 
tending parties.  There  have -been  cases  brought 
before  arbitration  tribunals  in  which  one  side  had 
no  merit,  but  had  hoped  to  gain  something  never- 
theless through  this  system  of  splitting  the  differ- 
ence. Against  the  practise  is  the  obvious  objection 
that  sometimes  one  side  in  a  dispute  is  wholly  right 
and  the  other  wholly  wrong ;  and  this  is  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  demand  for  a  tribunal  which  shall  con- 
sider questions  of  law  and  equity  only,  without  rela- 
tion to  matters  of  expedience. 

The  former  Hague  Conferences  have  worked  un- 
der this  handicap,  that  nearly  half  the  delegates 
were  really  opposed  to  international  understand- 
ings, and  were  actually  working  secretly  in  behalf 
of  the  war  system.  Most  of  the  delegations  from 
41 


the  various  states  voted  under  the  "unit  rule,"  which 
put  the  constructive  members  at  the  mercy  of  the 
reactionaries.  The  "unit  rule"  is  the  agreement 
by  which  the  representatives  from  one  nation  shall 
vote  as  one  on  all  questions. 

The  Berne  Bureau  asks  specifically  that  the  num- 
ber of  soldiers  in  each  nation  be  reduced  to  the 
number  necessary  to  maintain  internal  order  as 
police;  and  this  number  is  estimated  at  one  soldier 
for  every  one  thousand  people.  This  would  allow 
Great  Britain  about  forty-five  thousand  soldiers, 
Germany  sixty-five  thousand,  while  the  United 
States  on  these  terms  could  add  about  ten  thousand 
to  the  present  standing  army. 

The  Bureau  asks  further  that  all  war  navies  be 
abolished,  and  that  all  fortifications  be  dismantled ; 
and  that  no  armament  shall  be  created  except  for 
an  international  navy  and  international  army ;  and 
that  this  manufacture  should  all  be  done  in  one  fac- 
tory under  an  international  commission.  The  navy 
should  be  used  for  police  purposes  mainly,  operat- 
ing for  the  most  part  in  waters  likely  to  be  infested 
with  pirates. 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

It  asks  that  the  people  of  every  territory  should 
have  the  right  to  decide  upon  their  own  national 
destiny;  also  for  the  abolition  of  secret  diplo- 
macy ;  for  the  maintenance  in  each  nation  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  parliament,  which  shall  be  continually 
in  touch  with  all  foreign  nations ;  and  with  most  of 
the  other  constructive  peace  plans  for  democratic 
control  of  all  foreign  policy. 

Strictly  speaking,  however,  a  democracy  ought 
never  to  have  what  is  considered  a  vigorous  foreign 
policy.  Democracy  is  a  form  of  government  espe- 
cially designed  for  minding  its  own  business.  In 
almost  every  case  the  interference  of  one  govern- 
ment with  the  internal  affairs  of  another  has  led 
to  some  form  of  disaster. 

Further  it  asks  for  a  penal  law  against  the 
stirring  up  of  international  hatred  by  the  press  or 
by  speech.  This,  of  course,  could  be  construed  so 
as  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  free 
speech,  and  in  the  long  run  it  would  be  a  weapon 
which  would  react  against  the  workers  for  interna- 
tional understanding.  The  freedom  of  the  press  is 
so  vitally  important  that  it  is  better  to  overlook  its 
43 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

abuses  than  to  restrain  its  freedom  of  action.  To 
be  sure,  the  major  part  of  the  press  of  the  world 
is  not  really  free,  being  controlled  by  its  adver- 
tisers or  by  political  pressure  on  its  owners. 

But  those  journals  which  are  really  independent 
and  which  represent  the  actual  views  of  men  com- 
petent to  speak  have  a  far  greater  influence  than 
those  known  to  be  subsidized,  or  to  serve  as  political 
organs,  their  "Marcheroute,"  as  the  Germans  call 
it,  being  laid  out  for  them  by  government  bureaus. 

An  instance  of  this  was  found  before  the  war  in 
the  wide  influence  of  the  independent  Frankfurter 
Zeitung,  the  mouthpiece  of  normal  industry,  the 
Socialist  Vorwdrts  and  the  international-minded 
Berliner  Tageblatt.  The  censorship  of  the  press  is 
still  a  chosen  weapon  of  tyranny,  as  well  as  of  "mil- 
itary necessity." 

The  spirit  of  the  Berne  Bureau  is  thus  indicated 
by  President  La  Fontaine  and  his  colleagues : 

"The  hopes  which  filled  humanity  a  few  years 

since  when  the  threshold  of  the  Twentieth  Century 

was  crossed  seem  to  have  been  forgotten.     Men's 

thoughts,  filled  with  hatred  and  bitterness,  are  bent 

44 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

on  destruction  and  the  ruthless  annihilation  of 
everything  which  but  yesterday  they  considered  as 
the  sacred  attributes  of  an  advanced  epoch.  .  .  . 
We  do  not  know  when  this  day  (of  peace)  may 
come,  but  we  do  know  that  come  it  must.  To  keep 
men  from  forgetting  this  day  is  now  a  task  even 
sublimer  than  the  healing  of  the  wounds  caused  in 
battle,  and  to  prepare  for  this  day  is  the  most 
sacred  duty  incumbent  on  mankind  in  this  period 
of  fever  and  delirium.  It  is  in  the  power  of  men 
to  avoid  wars,  but  once  war  has  been  let  loose  it  is 
beyond  your  power  to  shorten  it.  Your  only  course 
is  to  keep  aloof  from  the  slough  of  hate.  Humanity 
must  be  above  nations.  You  serve  your  own  nation 
only  by  serving  humanity." 

The  World  Map 

An  elaborate  program  of  a  treaty  of  peace, 
with  all  its  details  worked  out  in  legal  phraseology, 
and  a  full  discussion  of  the  legal  bearing  of  each 
clause,  has  been  prepared  under  the  title  La  Fin  de 
la  Guerre  et  VEtabllssement  d'une  Carte  Mondiale, 
by  Paul  Otlet,  a  librarian  of  the  kingdom  of  Bel- 
45 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

gium  and  a  very  close  associate  of  Senator  La  Fon- 
taine. 

Behind  this  is  IS  Union  des  Associations  Inter- 
nationales, including  the  Interparliamentary  Union, 
the  Free  Trade  Congress,  Union  of  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  Institute  of  International  Law,  with 
other  important  and  influential  groups. 

This  is  the  most  elaborate  document  of  the  kind 
yet  prepared.  There  have  been  many  other  at- 
tempts to  formulate  an  ideal  treaty  of  peace,  nota- 
bly by  Professor  Ludwig  Quidde,  of  Munich,  but 
not  so  fully  worked  out  as  this  of  Doctor  Otlet.  It  is 
likely  to  prove  a  document  of  very  great  value  in 
the  long  period  of  final  adjustment  sure  to  follow 
the  making  of  the  actual  treaty  of  peace,  however 
hasty  or  even  temporary  the  latter  may  be. 

The  Socialists  of  America 

The  American  Socialist  Party  has  also  promul- 
gated a  program  of  peace.      This   goes   a  little 
further  than  most  of  the  others.     It  asks  for  an 
international  congress,  with  legislative  and  admin- 
46 


DEMOCRATIC   CONTROL   OF   WAR 

istrative  powers.  It  asks,  as  do  the  others,  for  dis- 
armament, international  police  of  army  and  navy, 
the  abolition  of  all  private  profit  in  armament 
making. 

With  the  Social  Democrats  of  Germany,  the 
American  Socialists  ask  for  the  international  own- 
ership and  control  of  all  strategic  waterways,  in- 
cluding, with  the  Bosporus,  Dardanelles,  Strait  of 
Gibraltar,  Suez  and  Kiel  Canals,  the  Panama  Canal 
as  well. 

They  demand  especially  the  "neutrality  of  all 
the  seas,"  making  the  open  ocean  a  free  and  safe 
highway  for  the  commercial  vessels  of  all  nations, 
in  time  of  war  or  peace,  without  regard  for  nation- 
ality. This  would  limit  naval  warfare  to  the  terri- 
torial waters  of  the  belligerent  nations. 

This  seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  vitally  impor- 
tant of  all  the  various  propositions.  There  is  no 
rational  defense  for  the  process  by  which  a  great 
nation  makes  war  on  privately  owned  merchant 
ships,  passenger  ships  or  fishing  craft.  If  war  is 
to  endure,  armies  should  fight  against  armies  and 
47 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

not  against  non-combatants.  It  should  cease  to 
crush  the  enterprise  and  to  endanger  the  lives  of 
private  citizens. 

With  the  others,  the  American  Socialist  Party 
program  asks  for  no  unwilling  transfer  of  terri- 
tory; for  abolition  of  secret  diplomacy  and  the 
democratic  control  of  foreign  policy.  Unlike  the 
others,  it  asks  that  no  declaration  of  "offensive" 
warfare  shall  be  made  except  by  the  direct  vote  of 
the  people.  It  is  hard  to  define  "offensive"  war. 
The  present  war  was  entered  into  by  all  partici- 
pants on  the  ground  of  self-defense,  the  party  strik- 
ing first  gaining  an  advantage  over  the  other  which, 
it  maintained,  was  also  intending  to  strike.  No 
nation  on  earth  now  dares  declare  openly  that  it 
wages  any  other  but  defensive  warfare  or  that  it 
ever  had  any  purpose  of  aggression.  Every  ag- 
gressive war  of  the  last  century  has  been  made  to 
appear  to  the  people  of  each  belligerent  nation  as 
a  war  of  self-defense. 

People  under  the  stress  of  immediate  excitement 
might  vote  for  war,  especially  if  much  is  made  of 
stories  of  vicious  aggression ;  but  a  few  days  of 
48 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

thinking  it  over  would  cool  any  country.  The  cold- 
blooded vote  would  in  every  nation  be  overwhelm- 
ingly against  fighting,  if  ever  a  vote  on  such  a  sub- 
ject could  be  taken  in  cold  blood.  It  is  plain  enough 
that  the  wars  of  to-day  do  not  originate  in  popular 
movements.  But  it  is  also  true  that  a  popular 
movement  can  be  worked  up  in  almost  any  nation 
by  the  groups  directly  interested.  When  a  great 
war  is  actually  on  it  creates  a  kind  of  hysteria  in 
the  neutral  nations.  This  is  felt  at  present  very 
strongly  throughout  the  law-abiding  world,  and  to 
a  painful  extent  even  in  the  United  States. 

The  Socialists  of  America  demand  universal  suf- 
frage, including  that  of  women.  It  is  claimed  that 
it  will  be  impossible  to  militarize  a  nation  so  far 
advanced  as  to  provide  for  woman  suffrage. 

The  Socialist  party  further  utters  a  demand  for 

"industrial  democracy"  and  the  elimination  thereby 

_  » 
of  all  economic  causes  of  war;  the  federation  of 

the  working  classes  of  the  world,  the  socialization 
of  natural  resources  and  of  industries,  with  the 
amelioration  of  working  conditions. 

With  the  Socialists  of  Germany  those  of  America 
49 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

protest  against  war  indemnities.  In  history  the 
indemnity  as  actually  levied  has  with  scarcely  any 
exception  proved  an  instrument  of  injustice.  Un- 
like most  of  the  other  peace  advocates,  the  Social- 
ists believe  it  is  possible  to  act  directly  and  immedi- 
ately for  peace.  This  is  natural  because  Socialist 
can  speak  to  Socialist.  Each  of  the  belligerent 
nations  has  a  very  large  Socialist  group ;  and  while 
fighting  in  each  nation — as  they  believe  in  self- 
defense — they  have  no  sympathy  in  prolonging  the 
war  for  purposes  of  victory  or  conquest.  The 
American  Socialists  propose  to  adopt  this  program 
as  official ;  to  urge  its  adoption  in  every  nation ;  to 
make  a  strong  proffer  of  federation  with  their  com- 
rades over  the  border-lines;  and  they  also  ask  for 
the  federation  with  them  of  all  possible  peace  forces, 
Socialist  or  not,  in  support  of  a  minimum  peace 
program. 

This  minimum  program  is  not  defined.  But  it 
might  consist  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  German 
armies  from  Belgium  and  France,  the  stoppage  of 
hostilities,  and  the  co-operative  effort  to  bring  about 
fair  play  in  all  disputed  matters  of  territory. 
50 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

In  a  later  meeting  at  Chicago,  May  thirteenth, 
the  Socialist  Party  declares  that  "no  disaster  how- 
ever appalling,  no  crime  however  revolting,  justifies 
the  slaughter  of  nations  and  the  devastation  of 
countries." 

To  their  former  demands  they  add  that  no  Social- 
ist take  part  in  the  manufacture  of  armament,  and 
that  all  war  debts  be  repudiated.  To  repudiate  war 
debts  would  almost  disrupt  nationality  besides  cre- 
ating a  new  form  of  suffering  with  the  widest  pos- 
sible ramifications.  The  bonds  of  debt-swamped 
nations  in  these  days  are  not  mainly  held  by  bankers 
and  pawnbrokers.  Should  repudiation  ever  come  it 
would  be  found  that  widows  and  orphans  were 
among  the  chief  sufferers.  At  the  time  of  the 
French  Revolution  a  large  part  of  the  national  debt 
was  repudiated  to  the  great  distress  of  many  thou- 
sands of  people  who  had  no  part  in  the  extrava- 
gance which  created  the  debt. 

The  Socialists  of  Northern  Europe 

The  Socialists  of  Scandinavia  and  Holland  in 
their  convention  in  Copenhagen  follow  the  general 
51 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

lines  of  the  other  groups,  while  protesting  against 
the  occupation  of  Belgium  and  all  forms  of  violent 
annexation. 

The  Socialists  of  the  Allied  Nations 

The  Conference  of  Socialists  of  the  Allied  Na- 
tions, in  London,  in  February  (Arthur  Henderson, 
Secretary)  declare  themselves  not  at  war  with  the 
people  of  Germany  and  Austria,  but  only  with  the 
governments  by  which  these  countries  are  op- 
pressed. They  declare  that  the  invasion  of  Bel- 
gium and  France  threatens  the  very  existence  of 
independent  nationalities  and  strikes  a  blow  at  all 
faith  in  treaties.  They  protest  against  all  war  of 
conquest  and  against  the  policy  of  colonial  depend- 
encies, against  aggressive  imperialism,  and  the  an- 
tagonisms which  tear  asunder  capitalistic  society. 


The  Independent  Labour  Party  of  Great  Britain 

(Francis  Johnson,  London,  Secretary)  have  a  series 

of  demands  quite  in  harmony  with  those  of  the 

Union  of  Democratic  Control,  insisting,  however, 

52 


DEMOCRATIC   CONTROL   OF   WAR 

that  the  International  Arbitration  Court  should 
have  "power  as  an  alternative  to  war,  to  enforce  its 
decisions,  by  declaring  a  postal,  commercial,  trans- 
port and  financial  boycott  against  any  dissenting 
nation." 

As  to  this  we  may  note  that  there  never  has  been 
"a  dissenting  nation."  The  determination  to  make 
war  rests  with  the  professional  war  makers  and 
with  their  tools  in  the  diplomatic  corps.  When  a 
government  does  not  desire  war  it  will  submit  any 
case  to  arbitration,  and  no  arbitral  decree  is  likely 
to  be  set  aside.  Like  the  payment  of  interest  on 
bonded  indebtedness,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  honor. 

Against  the  policy  of  the  boycott,  advocated 
in  many  quarters  as  a  substitute  for  the  use 
of  force,  General  H.  G.  Otis  says,  "The  in- 
troduction of  the  bad  principle  of  the  boycott 
into  international  and  world  affairs  would  be 
intolerable  because  it  would  be  resorting  to  a 
vicious,  lawless  and  dangerous  method  in  trans- 
actions between  nations."  A  boycott  is  a  sword 
without  a  handle  which  cuts  both  ways,  injur- 
ing mainly  private  interests.  It  is  a  weapon  not 
53 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

adapted  for  democratic  government,  certainly  not 
easily  forged  in  the  United  States.  It  is  moreover 
an  interference  with  personal  rights  which  could 
not  be  readily  enforced  and  if  maintained  for  any 
length  of  time  would  become  most  unpopular.  A 
republic  is  not  a  unit  to  be  handled  as  a  single  force 
under  executive  orders.  It  is  a  multifarious  group 
representing  every  side  of  every  question,  the  vari- 
ant forces  by  common  consent  neutralized  into 
peaceful  toleration  of  one  another. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  boycott  or  any  other  form 
of  economic  or  moral  pressure  that  can  be  imag- 
ined is  better  than  war.  In  all  forms  of  interna- 
tional difficulty  it  is  never  the  whole  nation  which 
is  at  fault,  but  some  group,  large  or  small,  which 
for  the  time  controls  the  nation.  It  is  impossible, 
as  Burke  has  asserted,  "to  indict  a  whole  nation." 

Social  Democrats  of  Austria  and  Hungary 

The  Social  Democrats  of  Austria  and  Hungary 
at  a  meeting  in  Vienna  in  April,  1915,  agreed  on 
the  following  principles  of  a  permanent  peace: 
54 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

1.  Peace  must  not  mean  humiliation  of  any 
nation. 

2.  International  arbitration  must  be  made  ob- 
ligatory for  the  settlement  of  all  disputes  between 
nations. 

3.  Democratic  control  of  all  treaties  and  inter- 
national arrangements.  (Such  control  through  rep- 
resentatives   in    legislative   assemblies,    Reichstag, 
Parliament,  Congress,  Storthing,  etc.) 

4.  Limitation   of  armaments  by   international 
agreements  as  a  step  toward  disarmament. 

5.  Recognition   of   the   right  of   self-govern- 
ment of  all  peoples. 

Social  Democrats  of  Germany 

To  this  may  be  added  the  following  declaration 
of  German  Social  Democrats  in  June,  1915 : 

"This  statement  (the  condemnation  of  every  war 
of  conquest)  would  become  a  lie  if  German  Social 
Democrats,  in  the  face  of  the  present  declarations 
of  the  ruling  classes,  restricted  themselves  to  the 
mere  utterance  of  academical  Peace  demands.  Ex- 
55 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

perience  has  proved  that  not  the  slightest  notice  is 
taken  of  such  demands. 

"What  many  of  us  feared  becomes  more  and  more 
evident:  German  Social  Democrats  are  invited  to 
grant  the  War  Credits,  but  they  are  coolly  ignored 
when  decisions  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
future  of  our  nation  are  made. 

"Can  we  allow  a  state  of  affairs  to  continue  which 
deprives  us  of  the  possibility  of  making  the  best 
possible  use  of  the  influence  of  the  German  working 
class  on  the  side  of  a  policy,  dictated  by  our  deep- 
est convictions  and  based  on  the  experience  of  his- 
tory, destined  to  serve  the  best  interests  alike  of 
the  German  nation  and  of  all  the  nations  involved? 

"The  sacrifices  which  this  war  is  demanding  from 
the  peoples  concerned  are  enormous  and  increase 
every  day.  The  history  of  the  world  does  not  re- 
cord another  war  which  has  had  even  approximately 
such  a  murderous  effect.  It  combines  the  cruelty 
of  barbarous  periods  with  the  most  refined  inven- 
tions which  civilization  has  created  to  sweep  away 
the  bloom  of  the  nations.  Not  less  enormous  is  the 
sacrifice  in  materials  which  the  war  demands  from 
56 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

the  peoples.  Vast  territories  are  devastated.  Huge 
sums  which  governments  have  refused  to  spend  for 
social  improvement  in  a  year  are  spent  in  this  war 
in  a  week  to  kill  people  and  to  destroy  the  basis  of 
future  welfare.  All  the  nations  involved  are  con- 
fronted with  bankruptcy  if  the  war  is  continued. 

"In  large  circles  within  our  own  nation  and 
within  the  nations  with  whom  Germany  is  at  war  a 
strong  feeling  for  peace  is  more  and  more  uprising. 
Whilst  the  governing  classes  are  afraid  to  comply 
with  this  desire  for  peace,  thousands  and  thousands 
of  people  are  looking  to  the  Social  Democracy, 
which  has  always  been  considered  as  the  principal 
peace  party,  and  are  expecting  from  it  the  word 
of  deliverance  and  action  in  accordance  with  such 
a  word. 

"As  the  plans  of  conquest  are  laid  quite  openly 
before  the  whole  world,  Social  Democrats  have  full 
liberty  to  assert  with  the  utmost  emphasis  their 
antagonism  to  such  plans.  And  the  actual  situa- 
tion makes  this  liberty  a  duty.  The  organized 
working  class  expects  that  all  Social  Democrats  will 
stand  together  in  full  harmony  at  this  juncture,  as 
57 


they  did  in  a  similar  situation  in  1870,  when  all 
Social  Democrats  united  for  common  action  despite 
their  differences  at  the  outset  of  the  war. 

"Peace  conditions  forced  from  one  side  upon  the 
enemy  nations  can  not  bring  a  real  peace.  They 
can  only  bring  new  armaments  and  the  prospect  of 
a  new  war.  A  perfect  and  lasting  peace  is  only 
possible  on  the  basis  of  free  agreement.  It  is  not 
within  the  reach  of  the  Social  Democracy  of  a  sin-* 
gle  country  to  create  this  basis,  but  every  party 
can  take  its  share,  according  to  its  strength  and 
position,  in  creating  it. 

"The  state  of  affairs  at  the  present  moment 
makes  it  imperative  that  German  Social  Democrats 
should  take  a  decisive  step  in  realizing  this  aim. 
They  have  the  alternative  before  them  of  either  ful- 
filling this  duty  or  of  striking  a  mortal  blow  at  the 
confidence  they  have  up  to  now  possessed  in  the 
minds  of  the  German  people,  and  of  the  people  of 
the  whole  civilized  world,  as  being  the  guardians  of 
peace  between  the  nations. 

"We  have  no  doubt  that  our  party  will  prove 
true  to  the  principles  and  traditions  of  its  policy 
58 


within  and  outside  the  Reichstag.  The  holiest  tra- 
ditions of  Social  Democracy,  as  well  as  the  future 
welfare  and  liberty  of  our  nation,  are  at  stake.  If 
our  party  has  not  yet  the  power  to  make  national 
decisions,  the  task  is  still  ours  as  a  driving  force 
to  direct  politics  toward  the  goal  which  we  believe 
to  be  the  right  one." 

This  statement  is  signed  by  Eduard  Bernstein, 
Hugo  Haase  and  Karl  Kautsky. 

Tlie  British  Friends 

The  British  Society  of  Friends  has  adopted  reso- 
lutions in  part  as  follows: 

"We  agree  with  the  German  Social  Democratic 
Party  that  a  durable  peace  must,  be  a  peace  based 
on  the  consent  of  all  peoples,  and  not  a  peace  dic- 
tated by  conquest.  We  agree  that  in  the  final  ar- 
rangements national  and  racial  feelings  must  be 
fully  consulted. 

"We  heartily  indorse  Herr  Ebert's  declaration  on 
behalf  of  the  Social  Democratic  Party  in  the  Reichs- 
tag, on  May  29  (after  the  intervention  of  Italy), 
as  quoted  and  approved  in  the  manifesto: 
59 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

"  'The  desire  is  felt  everywhere,  and  more  and 
more  finds  expression,  that  an  end  should  be  made 
at  last  to  the  horror  of  the  war.  Despite  the  more 
difficult  situation  ...  we  believe  we  ought  to 
voice  this  longing  for  peace.  In  taking  this  stand 
we  know  ourselves  to  be  in  agreement  with  powerful 
sections  of  all  the  nations  which  are  at  war  with  us, 
who  desire  with  us  a  peace  without  violation  of  the 
independence  of  other  nations,  a  peace  which  makes 
possible  again  a  lasting  co-operation  between  civ- 
ilized peoples.  Therefore  we  protest  energetically 
against  the  attempts  which  are  being  made  to  make 
peace  dependent  upon  all  kinds  of  conquests.  From 
the  beginning  we  have  made  it  clear  that  we  con- 
demn every  war  of  conquest,  and  we  stand  firmly 
by  this.' 

"We  look  for  a  peace  on  these  terms,  and  we  will 
reciprocate  to  the  best  of  our  power  and  strength 
the  efforts  of  the  German  Social  Democrats  to 
bring  our  governments  together  in  this  spirit. 

"In  the  end  the  nations   must  come  together. 
Shall  it  be  after  many  more  days  of  suffering  and 
60 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

grief,  or  shall  it  be  to-day,  while  there  still  remain 
the  foundations  of  national  happiness  and  welfare 
on  which  to  base  our  hopes  for  the  future  ? 

"Every  day  the  war  lasts  fresh  multitudes  of 
human  beings  are  mutilated  and  slain.  Every  day 
the  war  lasts  hundreds  of  fresh  homes  in  Belgium, 
Poland  and  elsewhere  are  shattered  and  destroyed. 
Every  day  the  war  lasts  the  sum  of  bitter  hatred, 
frenzied  deeds,  inhuman  degradation,  mounts  up. 
Every  additional  day  of  war  means  deeper  poverty, 
greater  suffering,  more  intolerable  burdens  for  the 
people  who  remain." 

The  League  to  Limit  Armaments 

The  American  League  to  Limit  Armaments  de- 
votes itself  to  the  one  vital  work  of  opposition  to 
the  influences  moving  toward  a  great  increase  in 
military  expenditure  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  organized  "to  combat  militarism  and 
the  spread  of  the  militaristic  spirit  in  the  United 
States.  It  will  use  its  influence  to  promote  a  sane 
national  policy  for  the  preservation  of  interna- 
61 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

tional  law  and  order  with  the  least  reliance  upon 
force,  and  to  secure  the  efficient  use  of  moneys  ap- 
propriated for  the  purpose." 

The  forces  in  favor  of  increase  of  armament  in 
the  law-abiding  republic  at  this  moment  are  mainly 
three :  (a)  The  operations  of  the  armament  makers, 
with  their  creatures  and  tentacles,  to  the  end  that 
their  present  swollen  profits  may  be  indefinitely  pro- 
jected into  the  future,*  (b)  the  fear  shared  by  very 
many  people  that  one  great  nation,  having  subdued 
the  rest  of  Europe,  may  turn  her  military  strength 
on  the  United  States  in  hopes  of  financial  recupera- 
tion, and  the  third,  (c)  the  natural  desire  of  those 


*  The  following  despatch  in  the  daily  press,  November  25, 
1915,  may  illustrate  this : 

"War  order  profits  make  a  Thanksgiving  real  among 
holders  of  E.  I.  du  Pont  de  Nemours  Powder  Company 
stock.  Dividends  were  declared  to-day  which  will  give 
$17,756,260  to  holders  of  the  new  common  stock  in  real 
spending  money. 

"These  dividends,  an  initial  quarterly  of  1^  per  cent,  and 
an  extra  of  28^  per  cent,  make  the  first  big  cash  distribu- 
tion of  the  huge  profits  which  the  concern  is  making. 

"On  October  1  last  the  old  company  was  taken  over  by 
the  present  company  and  holders  of  common  stock,  of 
which  ythere  was  $29,427,100,  received  a  200  per  cent,  divi- 
dend in  common  stock  of  the  new  corporation,  which 
bought  out  the  old  at  a  valuation  of  $120,000,000.  In  this 
operation  6  per  cent,  was  assured  on  the  old  common  stock 
and  $58,854,200  new  common  stock  was  received.  Now 
this  stock  gets  as  a  starter  30  per  cent  in  cash  dividends. 
The  stock  sold  to-day  at  $450  a  share." 

62 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

concerned  with  armies  and  navies  to  extend  the  in- 
stitution they  represent.  The  first  element,  the 
ambition  of  the  war  traders  for  future  profits,  is 
confined  to  no  one  nation.  The  great  questions  of 
the  future  of  Europe  must  turn  on  Europe's  ability 
to  restrain  these  activities  and  to  bring  its  military 
elements  under  civil  control. 

The  Anti-War  Council  of  Holland 

The  Anti-Oorlogs  Raad  (Anti-War  Council)  of 
Holland,  headed  by  Doctor  B.  de  Jong  van  Beek  en 
Donk,  has  developed  an  elaborate  plan,  with  com- 
mittees working  to  carry  it  out. 

The  plan  calls  for  obligatory  arbitration  and  the 
total  abolition  of  all  violence  between  nations.  It 
advocates  the  immunity  of  passenger  and  freight 
ships  at  sea,  the  extension  of  free  trade  and  the 
regulation  of  competition  in  exploitation.  This  or- 
ganization seems  likely  to  prove  an  important  fac- 
tor in  the  security  of  Europe.  This  is  due  to  the 
energy  shown  in  its  work,  in  its  nearness  to  the  seat 
of  war,  and  finally  in  its  provision  for  a  continuous 
63 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

international  commission  to  be  engaged  in  "watch- 
ful waiting"  for  an  opportunity  to  be  heard. 

The  following  is  offered  as  a  minimum-program 
of  this  society  at  The  Hague : 

1.  No  annexation  or  transfer  of  territory  shall 
be  made  contrary  to  the  interests  and  wishes  of  the 
population  concerned.     Where  possible  their  con- 
sent shall  be  obtained  by  plebiscite  or  otherwise. 

The  states  shall  guarantee  to  the  various  nation- 
alities included  in  their  boundaries,  equality  before 
the  law,  religious  liberty  and  the  free  use  of  their 
native  languages. 

2.  The  states  shall  agree  to  introduce  in  their 
colonies,  protectorates  and  spheres  of  influence,  lib- 
erty of  commerce,  or  at  least  equal  treatment  for 
all  nations. 

3.  The  work  of  The  Hague  Conference  with  a 
view  to  the  peaceful  organization  of  the  Society  of 
Nations  shall  be  developed. 

The  Hague  Conference  shall  be  given  a  perma- 
nent organization  and  meet  at  regular  intervals. 

The  states  shall  agree  to  submit  all  their  dis- 
putes to  peaceful  settlement.  For  this  purpose 
64 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

there  shall  be  created,  in  addition  to  the  existent 
Hague  Court  of  Arbitration,  (a)  a  permanent  in- 
ternational Council  of  Investigation  and  Concilia- 
tion. The  states  shall  bind  themselves  to  take  con- 
certed action,  diplomatic,  economic  or  military,  in 
case  any  state  should  resort  to  military  measures 
instead  of  submitting  the  dispute  to  judicial  deci- 
sion or  to  the  mediation  of  the  Council  of  Investiga- 
tion and  Conciliation. 

4.  The  states  shall  agree  to  reduce  their  arma- 
ments.   In  order  to  facilitate  the  reduction  of  naval 
armaments,  the  right  of  capture  shall  be  abolished 
and  the  freedom  of  the  seas  assured. 

5.  Foreign  policy  shall  be  under  the  effective 
control  of  the  parliaments  of  the  respective  nations. 
Secret  treaties  shall  be  void. 

The  organization  is  ready  to  co-operate  with  its 
colleagues  in  other  law-abiding  nations  as  well  as  in 
those  which  are  belligerent. 

In  a  later  publication  (September,  1915)  the 
Netherland  Anti-War  Council  makes  the  following 
statement : 

"For  a  year  now  war  has  raged  throughout  the 
65 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

world,  each  new  day  demanding  fresh  and  horrible 
sacrifices.  Without  cessation  the  warring  nations 
see  new  troops  sent  out  to  strengthen  the  old  re- 
duced forces;  everywhere  young  men  are  taught 
how  to  destroy  the  greatest  number  of  other  young 
lives.  Everywhere  dwellings,  formerly  the  abodes 
of  prosperity,  happiness  and  peace,  are  destroyed 
by  the  fire  of  the  enemy — nay,  even  by  the  fire  cf 
friends — every  day  families  are  made  homeless  and 
destitute.  Millions  are  spent  on  this  work  of  de- 
struction, whereas  before  the  war  one  hundred-thou- 
sandth part  of  the  sums  now  spent  could  barely  be 
obtained  for  good  works. 

"The  losses  in  this  war  are  enormous ;  they  far 
surpass  the  gloomiest  prophecies  about  the  conse- 
quences of  a  European  war,  as  well  with  regard  to 
the  number  of  lives  lost  as  to  the  economical  side 
of  the  question. 

"It  is  not  possible  to  calculate  already  how  much 
each  of  the  belligerents  has  already  spent  on  the 
war,  and  what  losses  the  dislocation  of  traffic  and 
trade  has  already  caused.  But  a  British  statisti- 
cian has  made  a  calculation  which  may  give  some 
66 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

idea  of  those  losses.  According  to  him  a  year  of 
war  would  have  cost  humanity  no  less  than  ten 
milliards  of  pounds.  Can  any  one  realize  what  that 
means  ?  It  means  that  the  war  costs  the  belligerents 
over  twenty-five  million  pounds  a  day ;  that  is  a  loss 
of  one  million  pounds  per  hour. 

"And  who  has  foreseen  that  a  European  war 
would  destroy  so  many  human  lives?  Would  any 
one  warning  the  nations  against  the  menace  of  war 
have  been  listened  to  if  he  had  mentioned  figures 
which,  alas,  have  now  already  become  a  reality  and 
which  have  not  yet  reached  their  limit  ?  Even  after 
the  war  had  broken  out  an  Amsterdam  professor 
spoke  of  the  'Law  of  the  decrease  of  casualties  in 
war.'  Who  dares  defend  that  thesis  now? 

"Our  only  answer  is  to  repeat  the  overwhelming 
figures,  not  given  in  fantastic  newspaper  reports, 
or  by  war  correspondents  trying  to  exaggerate  the 
enemy's  losses,  but  actually  by  those  governments 
that  had  the  courage  to  tell  the  public  the  truth. 
In  England,  in  the  beginning  of  August,  the  Prime 
Minister,  Mr.  Asquith,  stated  their  casualties  at 
330,000,  of  whom  61,000  had  been  killed  and 
67 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

196,000  wounded.  The  rest  were  missing,  either 
prisoners  of  war  or  probably  killed,  though  their 
bodies  had  not  been  found.  As  is  only  natural,  the 
figures  are  even  much  higher  in  Germany ;  in  Prus- 
sia alone  the  number  of  casualties  amounts  already 
to  more  than  a  million  and  a  half. 

"The  greater  part  of  those  men  have  not  been 
killed  as  in  former  centuries,  in  open  strife,  one 
man  against  another;  their  lives  have  been  de- 
stroyed by  bombs  and  shells,  fired  by  an  invisible 
enemy,  by  engines  of  destruction  against  which 
human  courage  is  helpless,  so  that  the  soldiers  can 
only  hope  that  they  may  be  spared  themselves  and 
that  others,  even  their  comrades,  may  be  hit  instead. 
For  it  is  inevitable  that  some  shall  fall ! 

"At  a  time  when  human  lives  are  destroyed  on 
such  a  scale  their  value  is  not  sufficiently  realized 
by  many.  The  hero  of  such  a  time  is  not  the  scien- 
tist who  by  the  discovery  of  a  serum  against  some 
dread  disease,  saves  scores  of  human  lives,  but  the 
man  who  instead  of  killing  others  with  bombs  has 
invented  a  new  way  of  finishing  his  adversaries,  by 
poisonous  gas  or  otherwise.  The  demoralizing  in- 
68 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

fluence  of  reading  war  news  is  so  strong  that  a  Ger- 
man scholar  who  has  frequently  given  proofs  of 
great  impartiality  and  whose  humane  feelings  can 
not  be  doubted,  wrote  in  his  legal  defense  of  the 
formal  right  to  sink  the  Lusltania  the  terrible 
words  that  where  this  right  existed  the  death  of  the 
passengers — that  is  of  1,500  innocent  unsuspect- 
ing victims — need  not  be  taken  into  account. 

"Such  is  the  situation  after  a  year  of  European 
war.  Death,  ruin,  economical  waste,  hardening  of 
human  feelings.  Notwithstanding  all  those  horrors 
the  anniversary  of  the  war  has  been  solemnly  com- 
memorated in  the  warring  countries ;  they  have  all 
declared  that  their  nation  is  prepared  for  another 
year  of  the  same  horrors,  even  for  more  than  one 
year ;  that  they  do  not  waver  in  their  resolution  to 
fight  on  till  their  aim  shall  be  attained. 

"In  opposition  to  this  strengthening  of  a  war- 
like spirit  on  the  anniversary  of  the  war,  we  want 
to  sound  a  word  of  Peace. 

"We  know  that  any  one  pronouncing  the  word  of 
peace,  whether  he  belongs  to  a  neutral  state  or  to 
one  of  the  belligerents,  rouses  the  indignation  of 
69 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

many.  First  of  all  of  those  whose  doctrine  has  been 
chosen  as  the  device  of  a  new  war  publication,  'May 
the  war  last  till  everything  has  been  subjected  to 
our  will.'  Arguments  are  useless  with  people  who 
hold  such  views  and  who  think  that  'power'  should 
be  the  ultimate  aim  of  all  human  effort. 

"Mentioning  the  word  peace  also  rouses  the  in- 
dignation of  people  who  sincerely  desire  a  'lasting 
peace,'  but  who  think  that  it  can  only  be  attained 
by  continuing  the  struggle  till  the  complete  crush- 
ing of  the  adversary.  They  are  blind  to  the  lessons 
of  history,  which  teaches  that  order  can  not  be  based 
on  brutal  force;  that  a  nation  becomes  stronger 
when  oppressed. 

"Others — whose  train  of  thoughts  we  can  follow 
more  easily — realize  that  international  relations  can 
not  be  based  on  brutal  force;  that  the  guarantees 
for  a  lasting  peace  can  not  be  obtained  by  con- 
straint from  without,  but  who  yet  will  not  hear  of 
peace,  because  they  think  that  the  adversary's  state 
of  mind  has  not  yet  undergone  the  necessary  change 
to  make  reliance  on  a  lasting  peace  possible. 

"They  are  opposed  to  a  peace  which  would  only 
70 


be  a  'fouler  Frieden,'  a  'paix  boiteuse,'  which  would 
not  guarantee  an  honorable  and  lasting  peace  after 
the  enormous  sacrifices  made.  According  to  those 
a  peace  made  now  would  only  mean  a  continuance 
of  the  old  state  of  armed  peace  with  its  continual 
menace  of  war,  its  increase  of  armaments,  with  its 
distrust,  hate  and  fear.  They  believe  that  if  peace 
were  made  now  it  would  only  mean  that,  as  for- 
merly, the  value  of  a  state  will  not  depend  on  its 
economical  or  intellectual  importance,  but  only  on 
its  military  strength. 

"Without  any  doubt,  all  those  who,  like  us,  have 
organized  themselves  to  promote  a  lasting  peace, 
will  agree  with  the  last-mentioned  advocates  of  the 
continuation  of  the  war,  that  a  peace,  allowing  the 
continuance  of  militarism,  would  be  a  great  evil, 
a  crime  to  those  thousands  who  lost  their  lives  in 
a  'struggle  for  peace.'  Yet,  when,  strengthened 
by  the  approval  of  thousands  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  we  dare  speak  about  peace,  about  the  ne- 
cessity of  its  preparation,  this  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  in  looking  back  over  the  indescribable  suffer- 
ings in  the  first  year  of  the  war  we  see  one  comfort- 
71 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

ing  difference  with  August,  1914.  Then  the  war- 
like spirit  was  unanimous,  not  one  voice  objected, 
all  agreed  that  killing  enemies  was  the  only  and 
the  highest  duty ;  all  were  pervaded  with  the  same 
feeling  of  national  unity  and  solidarity,  which  ex- 
cluded any  idea  of  international  relations.  So  far 
it  is  only  a  beginning,  a  hesitating  effort,  but  there 
is  a  note  of  dissent.  The  question  is  asked  how 
long  the  struggle  must  continue ;  whether  the  time 
has  not  yet  come  to  reconstruct  instead  of  bringing 
ruin  and  desolation;  whether  many  citizens  of  the 
belligerent  countries  are  not  more  alike  in  character 
and  ideals  than  the  citizens  of  one  and  the  same 
state  often  are? 

"We  should  not  forget  that  notwithstanding  the 
still  numerous  utterances  of  hostility  and  war-fer- 
vor, there  lives  also  another  order  of  thoughts  deep 
down  in  the  consciousness  of  the  warring  nations, 
which  more  and  more  comes  to  the  light.  On  both 
sides  there  are  forces  at  work  gathering  the  words 
of  reconciliation  and  of  co-operation  spoken  by  the 
adversary,  answering  in  the  same  tone  of  confidence 
and  friendship. 

72 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

"To  encourage  those  voices,  to  convince  thosa 
forerunners  of  the  confidence  and  the  kind  dispo- 
sition they  will  find  on  the  other  side,  that  is  the 
noble  task  of  such  nations  as  have  not  been  carried 
along  by  the  maelstrom  of  passion  and  distrust, 
and  are  yet  so  closely  allied  to  the  warring  nations 
that  they  feel  the  greatest  compassion  for  their 
struggles,  their  doubts  and  their  sufferings. 

""Therefore,  at  a  moment  when  the  first  anniver- 
sary of  the  war  is  commemorated  and  the  decision 
to  continue  the  struggle  is  proclaimed  on  all  hands, 
we  want  to  sound  a  note  of  peace — it  is  true  with 
the  modesty  suiting  the  citizens  of  a  small  neutral 
country,  but  also  with  the  consciousness  that  our 
words  will  re-echo  in  the  hearts  of  many,  even  in 
the  warring  countries,  who  think  like  us,  even  if 
they  do  not  utter  their  thoughts.  We  want  to  pro- 
nounce our  confidence  in  the  increasing  force  of 
these  conciliatory  voices.  We  want  to  appeal  to 
those  who,  though  they  are  pacifists,  do  not  want 
to  hear  the  possibility  of  peace  and  international 
co-operation  discussed  because  they  believe  that  a 
peace  made  now  could  only  be  an  armistice  and  that 
73 


WAYS   TO   LASTING   PEACE 

in  the  enemy's  country  militarism  or  marinism  are 
still  too  firmly  rooted  to  promise  any  amelioration 
in  the  future. 

"We  want  to  ask  them  whether  they  are  blind  to 
the  signs  of  change;  whether  they  think  that  their 
implacable  attitude  toward  the  hand  advanced  to 
them  will  lead  to  what  we  all  desire — the  extinction 
of  militarism  in  all  countries.  Do  they  not  see  that 
their  attitude  strengthens  the  adversary's  chauvin- 
ism; that  it  excites  national  pride  till  perhaps  the 
hand  that  was  advanced  is  drawn  back  again  ?  We 
know  that  many  hope  that  a  continuance  of  the 
war  will  in  the  end  compel  the  adversary  to  hold 
out  his  hand  again,  will  compel  the  country  to  in- 
ternal reforms  which  would  consolidate  the  peace. 
But  we  ask  again :  do  they  believe,  even  if  military 
compulsion  were  possible,  that  such  a  compulsory 
submission  would  have  any  value;  would  it  not  be 
much  better  that  the  common  enemy  should  be  at- 
tacked in  all  countries  by  voluntary  co-operation 
according  to  a  well-considered  plan? 

"A  great  danger  threatens  the  world:  that  a  just 
and  acceptable  peace  should  be  possible  at  a  certain 
74 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

moment  without  being  realized,  and  that  the  war 
should  then  end  much  later,  without  a  real  decision, 
but  at  a  cost  of  even  more  millions  of  human  lives, 
of  even  more  milliards  in  money. 

"There  is  also  the  danger  that  after  long  years 
of  war,  of  even  more  horrible  sacrifices,  of  even 
bitterer  strife,  at  length  one  of  the  parties  gains 
a  complete  victory  so  that  he  alone  can  dictate  the 
terms  of  peace. 

"Do  the  friends  of  a  lasting  peace,  who  will  not 
hear  of  peace  now,  really  think  that  then  cool  com- 
mon sense  will  have  a  word  to  say  to  advise  that 
moderation  without  which  a  lasting  peace  is  impos- 
sible? Therefore  it  is  necessary  that  already  now 
the  neutrals  should  speak  openly  of  peace,  of  a 
just  and  durable  peace.  We  once  more  emphasize 
the  word  'durable,'  which  includes  the  idea  of  'just,' 
for  many  still  reproach  us  that  we  want  peace  at 
any  price,  that  for  us  peace  is  the  only,  the  high- 
est, good.  No  reproach  could  be  more  unfounded. 

"There  may  be  many  who,  dazed  and  over- 
whelmed by  all  this  misery,  wish  only  one  thing: 
peace.  They  do  not  care  on  what  terms.  But 
75 


WAYS   TO   LASTING   PEACE 

we  who  have  formed  an  organization  because  we 
know  that  a  peace,  as  well  as  anything  else,  re- 
quires forethought  in  order  to  become  durable,  we 
consider  the  word  peace  as  synonymous  with  a  'dur- 
able, just  peace.'  To  give  an  example,  we  can  not 
conceive  that  any  government  should  be  willing  to 
offer  its  mediation  for  a  peace  which  did  not  give 
perfect  independence,  political  as  well  as  econom- 
ical, to  Belgium. 

"The  annexation  of  a  nation  like  Belgium,  which 
has  an  honorable  past  as  an  independent  state, 
would  be  so  contrary  to  all  civilization  and  political 
justice,  would  be  such  a  homage  to  might  over 
right,  would  contain  the  germ  of  so  many  new 
wars  in  the  future  that  we  repudiate  with  all  our 
hearts  the  possibility  of  such  a  peace.  We  can 
not  believe  that  at  this  stage  of  the  war  any  re- 
sponsible official,  any  parliamentary  majority  de- 
sires a  peace  based  on  such  a  violation  of  justice, 
which  would  at  the  same  time  be  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  the  conqueror. 

"We  demand  a  just  and  durable  peace;  in  this 
sense  do  we  add  our  efforts  for  peace  to  the  proc- 
76 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

lamation  of  the  Pope,  who,  on  the  'sad  anniversary 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  tremendous  conflict'  pro- 
nounced his  desire  'that  the  war  may  cease  soon 
based  on  mutual  benevolence  and  on  respect  for  the 
rights  and  dignity  of  others.'  r 

The  New  YorJc  Peace  Society 

The  New  York  Peace  Society  (William  H. 
Short,  Secretary)  has  formed  a  plan  along  the 
same  general  lines,  but  asking  particularly  for  the 
renewal  of  The  Hague  Conference  with  the  addi- 
tion of  a  standing  committee  to  which  pressing 
matters  can  be  referred  in  the  eight-year  interval 
between  sessions. 

The  World  Union 

A  League  of  Peace,  ultimately  to  become  a 
World  Union,  is  the  end  sought  by  a  group  of 
statesmen  in  Great  Britain,  prominent  among  them 
being  Viscount  Bryce  and  Professor  Lowes  Dickin- 
son of  Cambridge.  Their  plans  center  on  two  mat- 
ters— the  reduction  of  armament  and  the  placing  of 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  declaring  war,  through  ma- 
77 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

chinery  of  arbitration  and  conciliation.  It  is  pro- 
posed that  each  nation  bind  itself  by  treaty  to  refer 
all  disputes  that  might  arise  between  them,  if  diplo- 
matic methods  of  adjustment  had  failed,  either  to  a 
court  of  arbitration  for  judicial  decision  or  to  a 
council  of  conciliation  for  investigation  and  report. 
They  should  not  declare  war  or  begin  hostilities  un- 
til the  court  had  decided  or  the  council  had  reported. 
The  members  of  the  Union  shall  put  pressure,  diplo- 
matic, economic  or  forcible,  on  any  signatory  power 
that  should  act  in  violation  of  the  preceding  condi- 
tions. Provision  is  made  to  secure  on  these  councils 
men  with  an  international  outlook  who  will  not  be 
mere  agents  of  possibly  reactionary  or  absolute  gov- 
ernments. The  details  of  this  plan  have  been  worked 
out  provisionally,  but  have  not  yet  been  printed 
in  detail. 

A  League  of  Peace 

Mr.  Hamilton  Holt,  of  the  New  York  Independ- 
ent, has  developed  a  special  scheme  for  a  League 
of  Peace  composed  of  those  nations   which   shall 
agree  to  respect  mutually  one  another's  integrity 
78 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

and  territory.  These  are  to  have  a  periodical  as- 
sembly which  will  make  general  laws  subject  to  the 
veto  of  individual  nations.  Any  nation  in  this 
League  is  to  have  the  right  to  withdraw,  with  the 
certainty  of  being  expelled,  if  it  undertakes  war 
preparedness  on  its  own  account. 

The  aggregate  armament  of  this  League,  it  is 
proposed,  shall  be  higher  than  that  of  any  single 
nation  outside  the  League.  Opportunity  is  to  be 
given  for  such  a  nation  to  mend  its  ways  and  enter 
the  association  at  any  time. 

The  Foundations  of  a  League  of  Peace 

The  following  suggestions  as  to  a  League  of 
Peace  are  made  by  Professor  G.  Lowes  Dickinson 
of  Cambridge: 

*  "The  will  to  peace  is  the  only  sure  guarantee  of 
peace.  But  as,  in  the  past,  the  will  has  been  ham- 
pered by  the  machinery  of  European  diplomacy, 
so  in  the  future  it  may  and  should  be  confirmed  by 
a  change  in  that  machinery.  The  system  of  alli- 
ances precipitated  war ;  a  general  concert  must  pre- 


*  The  paragraphs  that  follow  are  from  articles  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  December,  1914,  and  April,  1915. 

79 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

vent  it.  We  must  create  an  organization  by  our 
will,  and  sustain  our  will  by  the  organization.  I 
will  ask  the  reader,  then,  if  his  will  is  set  upon 
peace,  to  go  with  me  and  ask  what  program  we 
can  put  forward  to  convert  will  into  practice  when 
the  new  Europe  is  made  after  the  war.  For  if  it 
be  not  made  so  that  it  favors  peace,  it  will  be  made 
so  that  it  favors  war.  And  which  it  will  do  depends 
in  part  upon  the  writer  and  the  reader  of  this  paper. 
"Let  us  note,  first,  for  our  encouragement,  that 
the  lamentable  condition  under  which  Europe  has 
been  suffering  for  many  centuries  past,  was  not  al- 
ways its  condition  in  the  past,  and  need  not  be  in 
the  future.  There  was  a  time  when  the  whole  civil- 
ized world  of  the  west  lay  at  peace  under  a  single 
rule ;  when  the  idea  of  separate  sovereign  states,  al- 
ways at  war  or  in  armed  peace,  would  have  seemed 
as  monstrous  and  absurd  as  it  now  seems  inevitable. 
And  the  great  achievement  of  the  Roman  Empire 
left,  when  it  sank,  a  sunset  glow  over  the  turmoil 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  Never  would  a  medieval 
churchman  or  state  have  admitted  that  the  inde- 
pendence of  states  was  an  ideal.  It  was  an  obsti- 
80 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

nate  tendency,  struggling  into  existence  against 
all  the  preconceptions  and  beliefs  of  the  time.  'One 
Church,  one  Empire,'  was  the  ideal  of  Charlemagne, 
of  Otho,  of  Barbarossa,  of  Hildebrand,  of  Thomas 
Aquinas,  of  Dante.  The  forces  struggling  against 
that  ideal  were  the  enemy  to  be  defeated.  They 
won.  And  thought,  always  parasitic  on  action,  in- 
dorsed the  victory.  So  that  now  there  is  hardly  a 
philosopher  or  historian  who  does  not  urge  that  the 
sovereignty  of  independent  states  is  the  last  word 
of  political  fact  and  political  wisdom. 

"And  no  doubt  in  some  respects  it  has  been  an 
advance.  In  so  far  as  there  are  real  nations,  and 
these  are  coincident  with  states,  it  is  well  that  they 
should  develop  freely  their  specific  gifts  and  char- 
acters. The  good  future  of  the  world  is  not  with 
uniformity,  but  with  diversity.  But  it  should  be 
well  understood  that  all  the  diversity  required  is 
compatible  with  political  union.  The  ideal  of  the 
future  is  federation;  and  to  that  ideal  all  the  sig- 
nificant facts  of  the  present  point.  It  is  idle  for 
states  to  resist  the  current.  Their  trade,  their 
manufactures,  their  arts,  their  sciences,  all  contra- 
81 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

diet  their  political  assumptions.  War  is  a  survival 
from  the  past.  It  is  not  a  permanent  condition  of 
human  life.  And,  interestingly  enough,  this  truth 
has  been  expressing  itself  for  a  century  even  in  the 
political  consciousness  of  Europe.  Ever  since  the 
great  French  wars  there  has  been  a  rudimentary 
organ,  the  'concert,'  for  dealing  with  European 
affairs  as  a  whole.  There  is  hardly  an  international 
issue  for  a  hundred  years  past  with  which  it  has 
not  concerned  itself.  It  has  recognized,  again  and 
again,  not  in  theory  only,  but  in  practical  action, 
that  the  disputes  of  any  states  are  of  vital  interest 
to  all  the  rest,  and  that  powers  not  immediately 
concerned  have  a  right  and  a  duty  to  intervene. 
Not  once  but  many  times  it  has  avoided  war  by 
concerted  action.  And  though  its  organization  is 
imperfect,  its  personnel  unsatisfactory,  and  its  pos- 
sibilities limited  by  the  jealousies,  fears  and  ambi- 
tions of  the  several  powers,  it  represents  a  clear 
advance  in  the  right  direction  and  a  definite  admis- 
sion, by  statesmen  and  politicians,  that  interna- 
tionalism is  the  great  and  growing  force  of  the 
present.  What  we  have  to  do,  at  the  conclusion  of 
82 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL   OF   WAR 

this  war,  is  to  discover  and  to  embody  in  the  public 
law  of  Europe  the  next  step  toward  the  ultimate 
federal  union.  We  must  have  something  better 
than  the  concert.  We  can  not  hope  to  achieve  the 
federation.  What  can  we  do?  It  would  be  pre- 
sumptuous for  any  single  thinker  to  put  forward 
dogmatically  his  own  suggestion  as  the  best  and 
most  practicable.  What  I  here  set  forth  is,  how- 
ever, the  result  of  much  discussion  and  of  much 
thought.  I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  reader  may 
be  willing  to  consider  it  seriously,  whether  or  not 
he  can  indorse  it. 

"The  preliminaries  of  peace  must,  I  suppose, 
be  settled  between  the  belligerents ;  and  it  is  prob- 
able, though  very  undesirable,  that  they  will  be 
settled  behind  the  scenes  by  the  same  group  of  men 
who  made  this  most  disastrous  and  unnecessary  of 
wars.  For  that  reason,  and  because  of  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  duration  and  issue  of  the  war,  it  is 
idle  to  consider  how  it  may  be  disposed  of.  All 
we  can  say  is,  and  it  is  essential  that  we  should 
insist  upon  it,  that  the  principle  laid  down  by  Mr. 
Asquith  and  indorsed,  I  believe,  by  every  one  who 
83 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

had  dealt  with  the  subject,  should  be  applied  up  to 
the  limits  of  possibility ;  the  principle,  that  is,  that 
the  interests  and  wishes  of  the  populations  it  is  pro- 
posed to  transfer  should  be  the  only  point  consid- 
ered, and  that  no  power  should  pursue  merely  its 
own  aggrandizement.  Beyond  this  little  can  be 
said.  . 

"Let  us  suppose,  now,  that  the  preliminaries  of 
peace  have  been  settled,  and  settled,  we  must  hope, 
on  right  lines.  There  should  then  be  summoned  a 
congress  to  regulate  the  carrying  out  of  them  in 
detail,  and  to  provide  for  the  future  peace  of  Eu- 
rope. There  is  plenty  of  precedent  for  such  a  con- 
gress. The  Congress  of  Vienna  followed  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  and  comprised  representatives  of  every 
European  power.  The  Congress  of  Paris  followed 
the  Crimean  War,  and  at  that  Congress  Austria 
was  represented,  though  she  was  not  a  belligerent, 
and  questions  quite  irrelevant  to  the  immediate  is- 
sues of  the  war  were  under  discussion.  The  future 
settlement  of  Europe  concerns  everybody.  Many 
of  the  non-belligerents  are  directly  interested  in  the 
territorial  changes  that  are  likely  to  be  made. 
81 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

Many  are  interested  in  the  fate  of  small  states.  All 
are  interested  in  peace.  This  war  is  not  only  the 
belligerents'  war,  nor  must  the  peace  be  only  the 
belligerents'  peace. 

"Immediately,  then,  on  the  settlement  of  the  pre- 
liminaries of  peace,  there  should  be  summoned  a 
congress  of  the  powers.  To  this  congress  all  the 
states  of  Europe  should  send  delegates.  But  fur- 
ther it  is  most  desirable  that  the  United  States 
should  take  part  in  it.  There  is  precedent  in  the 
Conference  of  Algeciras.  But  if  there  were  none, 
one  should  be  created.  It  is,  indeed,  the  best  hope 
for  the  settlement  that  peace  will  be  brought  about 
by  the  mediation  of  President  Wilson.  And  in  that 
case  the  United  States  will  have  a  clear  status  at 
the  congress.  It  is  the  only  great  power  not  in- 
volved, or  likely  to  be  involved,  in  the  war.  And 
it  is  the  only  one  that  has  no  direct  interest  in  the 
questions  that  may  come  up  for  solution. 

"Assuming  now  that  the  congress  is  assembled, 

what  will  be  its  business?     First,  to  appoint  an 

international  commission  to  carry  out  the  territorial 

rearrangements,  on  the  principle  of  the  interests 

85 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

and  wishes  of  the  peoples  concerned.  This  will  be 
a  process  long  and  arduous  in  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  the  territory  concerned  and  the  character 
of  the  populations.  At  the  best,  readjustments  of 
boundaries  and  allegiance  can  only  imperfectly 
solve  it.  But  the  best  chance  of  a  good  solution 
is  an  impartial  commission. 

"This,  however,  important  though  it  be,  should 
not  be  the  main  work  of  the  congress.  Its  main 
work  should  be  the  creation  of  an  organ  to  keep  the 
peace  of  Europe.  From  many  quarters  has  come 
the  suggestion  of  a  'league  of  peace.'  Mr.  Roose- 
velt has  proposed  it.  Mr.  Asquith,  as  we  saw,  looks 
forward  to  it  as  coming  'immediately  within  the 
range,  and  presently  within  the  grasp,  of  European 
statesmanship.'  And  it  was  advocated,  virtually, 
by  Sir  Edward  Grey  when  he  said : 

"  'If  the  peace  of  Europe  can  be  preserved,  and 
the  present  crisis  safely  passed,  my  own  endeavor 
will  be  to  promote  some  arrangement  to  which  Ger- 
many will  be  a  party,  by  which  she  could  be  assured 
that  no  aggressive  or  hostile  policy  would  be  pur- 
sued against  her  or  her  allies  by  France,  Russia 
86 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

and  ourselves,  jointly  or  separately.'  (White  Pa- 
per, No.  101.) 

"An  idea  thus  indorsed  not  only  by  pacifists  and 
thinkers,  but  by  practical  statesmen,  is  worth  seri- 
ous consideration.  Let  us  try  to  give  it  some  prac- 
tical shape. 

"The  powers,  I  propose,  should  found  a  league 
of  peace,  based  on  a  treaty  binding  them  to  refer 
their  disputes  to  peaceable  settlement  before  taking 
any  military  measures.  The  success  of  the  league 
would  depend  on  the  number  of  powers  entering 
into  it.  A  league,  for  instance,  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Russia  would  do  little  more  than  per- 
petuate the  present  entente.  A  league  joined  by 
Italy  would  be  in  a  better  position.  One  joined  by 
the  United  States  might  be  invincible.  But  the  thing 
to  be  most  aimed  at  is  the  inclusion  of  the  German 
powers.  And  that  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why, 
in  the  event  of  a  victory  by  the  allies,  everything 
possible  should  be  done  not  to  alienate  Germany 
from  the  European  system. 

"But,  it  will  be  said,  what  is  the  use  of  relying 
on  treaties?  This  raises  the  question  of  the  sanc- 
87 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

tion  of  the  treaty ;  a  question  of  great  importance, 
and  one  which,  unfortunately,  divides  those  who  be- 
lieve in  and  desire  peace.  The  one  party — the  ex- 
treraer  pacifists,  and  perhaps  the  more  logical — say 
that  treaties  must  be  their  own  sanction.  The  whole 
point  of  peace  is  that  men  rely  on  law,  not  on  force. 
And  to  attempt  to  secure  peace  by  arms  is,  and  al- 
ways has  been,  the  fundamental  error  of  mankind. 
This  attitude,  I  think,  goes  along  with  the  com- 
plete and  uncompromising  application  of  Christian 
ethics.  Those  who  hold  it  would  probably  say  that 
force  should  never  be  resisted  by  force.  They 
would  expect  to  conquer  force  by  meekness.  They 
are  the  real  Christians.  And  I  respect  and  honor 
them  in  proportion  to  their  sincerity.  But  I  can 
not  go  with  them.  What  is  more  important,  I  know 
well  that  almost  nobody  goes  with  them ;  and  that, 
in  particular,  no  government  would  act,  now  or  in 
any  near  future,  upon  such  presumptions.  It  will 
be  impossible,  I  believe,  to  win  from  public  opinion 
any  support  for  the  ideas  I  am  putting  forward, 
unless  we  are  prepared  to  add  a  sanction  to  our 
treaty.  I  propose,  therefore,  that  the  powers  enter- 
88 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

ing  into  the  arrangement  pledge  themselves  to  as- 
sist, if  necessary,  by  their  national  forces,  any 
member  of  the  league  who  should  be  attacked  before 
the  dispute  provoking  the  attack  has  been  submit- 
ted to  arbitration  or  conciliation. 

"Military  force,  however,  is  not  the  only  weapon 
the  powers  might  employ  in  such  a  case ;  economic 
pressure  might  sometimes  be  effective.  Suppose, 
for  example,  that  the  United  States  entered  into 
such  a  league,  but  that  she  did  not  choose,  as  she 
wisely  might  not  choose,  to  become  a  great  military 
or  naval  power.  In  the  event  of  a  crisis  arising, 
such  as  we  suppose,  she  could  nevertheless  exercise 
a  very  great  pressure  if  she  simply  instituted  a 
financial  and  commercial  boycott  against  the  of- 
fender. Imagine,  for  instance,  that  at  this  moment 
all  the  foreign  trade  of  this  country  were  cut  off  by 
a  general  boycott.  We  should  be  harder  hit  than 
we  can  be  by  military  force.  We  simply  could  not 
carry  on  the  war.  And  though,  no  doubt,  we  are 
more  vulnerable  in  this  respect  than  other  countries, 
yet  such  economic  pressure,  if  it  were  really  feared, 
would  be  a  potent  factor  in  determining  the  policy 
89 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

of  any  country.  It  is  true  that  no  nation  could 
apply  such  a  boycott  without  injuring  itself.  But 
then  the  object  is  to  prevent  that  greatest  of  all  in- 
juries, material  and  moral,  which  we  call  war.  We 
can  then  imagine  the  states  included  in  our  league 
agreeing  that  any  offender  who  made  war  on  a 
member  of  the  league,  contrary  to  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  would  immediately  have  to  face  either  the 
economic  boycott  or  the  armed  forces,  or  both,  of 
the  other  members.  And  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
think  that  in  most  cases  that  would  secure  the  ob- 
servance of  the  treaty. 

"To  get  a  clearer  idea  of  liow  the  arrangement 
might  work,  let  us  suppose  it  to  have  been  in  actual 
operation  at  the  time  this  war  broke  out,  and  that 
all  the  great  powers,  including  the  United  States, 
had  entered  into  such  a  league  as  I  propose.  Aus- 
tria-Hungary's ultimatum  to  Servia  would  then 
have  involved  a  breach  of  the  treaty  and  would 
have  been  prevented  by  the  joint  action  of  all  the 
other  powers.  If  Germany  had  supported  Austria, 
she,  too,  would  have  become  the  common  enemy. 
We  should  have  had  then  not  only  the  powers  of 
90 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

the  Triple  Entente,  but  also  Italy  and  the  United 
States  leagued  against  the  German  powers.  If  it 
had  been  foreseen,  as  in  the  case  supposed  it  would 
have  been,  that  that  would  happen,  the  German 
powers,  it  is  safe  to  say,  would  not  have  gone  to 
war.  What  would  have  been  the  alternative  ?  First, 
the  immediate  occasion  of  the  war",  the  murder  of 
the  archduke,  would  have  been  referred  to  an  inter- 
national commission  of  inquiry  at  The  Hague.  For 
the  question  of  the  responsibility  for  the  murder  is 
a  purely  judicial  one,  to  be  settled  by  evidence  be- 
fore an  impartial  tribunal.  But,  of  course,  behind 
the  murder  lay  the  whole  question  of  the  Balkan 
states  and  their  relations  to  Austria  and  Russia. 
The  whole  question  would  have  had  to  be  referred 
to  conciliation  before  war  could  take  place  about  it. 
Only  in  the  last  resort,  when  every  effort  of  peace- 
ful settlement  had  been  avoided,  when  a  solution  on 
just  lines  had  been  propounded  and  was  before  the 
public  opinion  of  Europe,  only  then  could  war  have 
occurred.  Perhaps  war  might  then  have  occurred ; 
but  if  so,  probably  on  a  much  smaller  scale ;  prob- 
ably confined  to  Servia,  Austria  and  Russia,  with 
91 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

the  other  powers  ready  at  every  moment  to  inter- 
vene for  peace. 

"It  may  still  be  urged  that  the  powers  that  have 
entered  into  the  league,  will  not,  in  fact,  fulfil  their 
obligation  to  intervene,  by  force  if  necessary,  to 
prevent  a  breach  of  the  treaty.  But,  if  it  be  true, 
and  be  seen  to  be  true,  that  peace  is,  at  any  moment, 
the  greatest  interest  of  the  greater  number  of  pow- 
ers, then  we  may  affirm  that  interest  will  reinforce 
obligation  and  that  the  duty  imposed  by  the  treaty 
will  be  fulfilled.  The  violation  of  one  treaty  obli- 
gation .  .  .  must  not  make  us  suppose  that  no 
power  will  ever  keep  treaty  obligations.  The  most 
cynical  may  admit  that  they  will  be  kept  when  and 
if  the  interest  of  a  power  is  on  the  side  of  keeping 
them.  And,  in  this  case,  it  would  appear  that  gen- 
erally the  interest  of  the  signatory  powers  would 
coincide  with  their  duty. 

"Let  us  now  proceed  to  a  more  detailed  consid- 
eration of  the  machinery  of  arbitration  and  concili- 
ation to  which  it  is  proposed  that  the  powers  should 
bind  themselves  to  refer  their  disputes. 

"Among  the  disputes  that  may  arise  there  is  a 
92 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

distinction,  well  recognized  both  in  theory  and  prac- 
tice, between  those  capable  of  arbitration  and  those 
requiring  conciliation.  The  former  are  called  'jus- 
ticiable,' and  are  such  as  can  be  settled  by  a  quasi- 
legal  procedure.  Examples  are  the  interpretation 
of  treaties,  or  the  application  to  particular  cases 
of  the  rules  of  international  law.  The  number  of 
disputes  which  have,  in  fact,  been  settled  by  arbi- 
tration during  the  last  century  is  very  considerable. 
Two  hundred  and  fifty  is  a  conservative  estimate 
[471,  according  to  Darby].  Of  these,  no  doubt, 
the  majority  were  trivial.  But  some  were  of  a  kind 
that  might  easily  have  led  to  war.  For  example, 
the  Alabama  case,  and  the  Alaska  boundary  case. 
Further,  there  is  a  court  of  arbitration,  and  a  pro- 
cedure, established  at  The  Hague  by  agreement 
between  the  powers.  Arbitration  is  thus  a  recog- 
nized and  organized  fact.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to 
extend  and  regulate  its  operation.  The  powers 
entering  the  league  of  peace  should  bind  them- 
selves by  a  general  treaty  to  submit  to  arbitration 
all  justiciable  disputes  without  exception.  Such 
treaties  have  already  been  made  between  certain 
93 


powers.  In  particular,  a  treaty  was  negotiated  in 
1897  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
to  submit  to  arbitration  'all  questions  in  difference 
between  them  which  they  may  fail  to  adjust  by  dip- 
lomatic negotiation.'  But  the  majority  of  arbitra- 
tion treaties  except  certain  matters.  Thus,  for 
example,  the  treaty  between  France  and  England 
of  1904  was  an  agreement  to  submit  all  disputes 
except  those  'affecting  vital  interest,  honor,  or  in- 
dependence.' But  such  exceptions  seem  to  be  super- 
fluous when  we  are  dealing  with  'justiciable'  dis- 
putes. The  'honor'  of  no  country  can  be  concerned 
in  breaking  either  the  terms  of  a  treaty  or  recog- 
nized principles  of  international  law.  'Independ- 
ence' can  not  be  touched  by  such  cases.  And  'vi- 
tal interests'  will  almost  always  come  under  the 
other  heading  of  non- justiciable  cases,  which  we  are 
proposing  to  refer  to  a  different  body  and  a  differ- 
ent procedure.  All  that  seems  to  be  necessary  here 
is  to  arrange  for  some  procedure  to  determine,  in 
case  of  difference  of  opinion,  whether  any  given 
dispute  is  or  is  not  'justiciable.'  This  question 
might  be  submitted  either  to  The  Hague  Court  or 
94 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

to  the  conciliation  council  proposed  below.  And 
with  that  safeguard  I  believe  there  to  be  no  valid 
objection  to  a  general  treaty  between  all  the  powers 
to  submit  to  arbitration  all  justiciable  disputes. 

"But  of  course  justiciable  disputes  are  not  those 
most  likely  to  lead  to  war.  The  most  dangerous 
issues  are  those  where  the  independence  or  the  'vital 
interests'  of  states  are,  or  are  supposed  to  be,  in- 
volved. Perhaps  in  such  cases,  in  the  last  resort,  it 
may  be  impossible  to  avoid  war  so  long  as  the  false 
notions  of  interest  now  current  continue  to  prevail. 
But  it  would  be  possible  to  postpone  it.  And  mere 
delay  will  often  make  the  difference  between  peace 
and  war.  What  precipitated  the  present  war  was, 
first,  the  ultimatum  of  Austria,  with  its  forty-eight 
hours'  time-limit,  and  then  that  of  Germany,  with 
its  twelve  hours'  time-limit.  The  war  was  rushed. 
Under  our  proposed  arrangements  this  could  not 
have  happened.  There  would  have  been  a  period  of 
delay,  which  might  be  fixed  at  not  less  than  a  year, 
during  which  the  whole  issue  would  be  considered 
before  a  council  of  conciliation,  a  way  out  sug- 
gested, and  the  public  opinion  of  all  countries  con- 
95 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

centrated  on  the  question  and  the  proposed  solu- 
tion. I  think  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that,  under 
such  conditions,  public  opinion  would  not  tolerate 
a  war.  At  any  rate,  the  chances  of  peace  would  be 
indefinitely  improved. 

"The  main  difficulty  here  is  the  constitution  of 
the  council  of  conciliation.  First,  what  kind  of  men 
should  be  members  of  it?  Not,  clearly,  men  of 
merely  legal  training,  for  the  questions  to  be  con- 
sidered will  not  be  merely  legal.  What  is  wanted 
is  men  of  eminence,  experienced  in  affairs,  capable 
of  impartiality,  and  able  to  take  a  European  rather 
than  a  narrowly  national  standpoint.  It  would  not 
be  easy  to  find  such  men,  but  it  should  not  be  im- 
possible. One  can  think  of  several  in  this  country. 

"The  members  of  the  council  should  be  appointed 
by  whatever  method  the  representative  organs  of 
the  countries  concerned  might  determine.  But  the 
important  question  then  arises:  Should  they  be 
delegates,  appointed  for  a  particular  purpose,  un- 
der constant  instructions  from  their  governments, 
or  representatives  for  a  fixed  term  of  years  to  act 
according  to  their  best  judgment?  In  the  first  al- 
96 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

ternative  we  shall  have  a  body  similar  to  that  which 
has  represented  the  concert  of  Europe  again  and 
again  during  the  last  century.  Such  a  body  may 
be  and  has  been  useful.  In  many  cases  it  has 
avoided  war,  though  in  many  it  has  failed  to  do  so. 
But  its  functions  have  not  been  the  same  as  those 
I  am  thinking  of  for  the  council  of  conciliation.  It 
has  not  aimed  at  discovering  the  kind  of  solution 
of  the  questions  before  it  which  would  commend  it- 
self to  impartial  and  enlightened  opinion  as  the 
most  fair,  reasonable  and  permanent.  It  has  aimed 
rather  at  bringing  together  conflicting  egotisms 
and  ascertaining  whether  or  no,  in  the  given  con- 
junction, it  is  worth  while  for  any  one,  or  more,  of 
them  to  appeal  to  force  in  face  of  the  others.  Some- 
times, as  in  the  case  of  the  Crimean  War,  this  ques- 
tion has  been  answered  in  the  affirmative;  some- 
times, as  in  the  case  of  the  Belgian  revolution  of 
1830,  in  the  negative.  But  no  will  for  a  permanent 
settlement  on  lines  of  justice  has  been  present.  The 
representatives  of  the  powers  have  acted  under  in- 
structions, each  of  them  considering  only  the  sup- 
posed interests  of  his  own  state,  and  making  con- 
97 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

cessions  only  when  it  seemed  necessary  to  do  so  to 
avoid  war,  and  when  war  for  the  moment  did  not 
appear  to  be  a  profitable  enterprise.  Further,  the 
decisions  of  such  a  conference  were  to  be  followed 
immediately  by  action.  It  was  natural,  therefore, 
that  temporary  expedients  to  get  over  a  crisis 
should  be  adopted,  rather  than  fundamental  and 
final  reconstructions.  The  function  I  propose  for 
the  council  of  conciliation  is  different.  It  will 
have  no  executive  power,  only  the  power  to  recom- 
mend the  best  solution.  This,  it  would  seem,  would 
best  be  done  by  an  independent  body,  of  which  all 
the  members  should  take,  as  far  as  possible,  a  Eu- 
ropean point  of  view,  and  none  a  merely  national 
one.  When  they  had  arrived  at  their  decision  their 
duty  would  be  ended.  The  question  of  its  adoption 
would  remain  for  a  further  stage. 

"Keeping  in  view  these  facts,  I  incline  to  believe 
that  the  most  hopeful  plan  would  be  that  the  coun- 
cil should  have  a  permanent  constitution,  the  mem- 
bers being  appointed  for  fixed  periods  of  time,  and 
not  for  special  issues,  and  acting  without  instruc- 
tions from  their  governments,  although,  of  course, 
93 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

acquainted  with  their  governments'  point  of  view 
and  having  the  confidence  of  their  nation.  On  such 
a  council  there  would  be,  if  the  league  were  large 
and  comprehensive,  a  number  of  members  whose 
governments  were  not  directly  interested  in  the  par- 
ticular issue  that  might  be  before  them,  and  who 
might,  therefore,  take  a  detached  view.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  countries  primarily  interested 
would  be  able  both  to  put  their  point  of  view  and 
to  modify  it  in  deference  to  the  general  trend  of 
feeling.  And  a  solution  might  be  finally  suggested 
which  could  not  be  suspected  of  partiality.  It 
would,  of  course,  not  satisfy  fully  all  claims.  But 
it  would  probably  commend  itself  to  the  public 
opinion  of  the  world.  And  that  would  be  a  great 
asset  in  its  favor. 

"Still,  it  might  be  rejected  by  the  parties  most 
concerned.  In  that  case  what  would  happen  ?  The 
whole  question  would  then  be  one  for  diplomacy, 
and  the  powers  would  be  as  free  to  act,  or  not  to  act, 
as  they  are  now.  I  do  not  propose  that  they  should 
be  under  treaty  obligation  to  enforce  the  award,  or 
scheme,  of  the  council.  In  a  Europe  such  as  we 
99 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

may  look  forward  to  in  which  there  should  be  a  reg- 
ularly constituted  federation  there  could,  of  course, 
be  no  place  for  war.  But  what  I  am  here  propos- 
ing is  a  preliminary  step  toward  that.  I  am  not  ab- 
rogating national  sovereignty  nor  ruling  out  war 
as  impossible.  I  am  merely  endeavoring  to  make  it 
a  great  deal  less  likely  than  it  now  is.  And  I  think 
that  the  attempt  in  the  present  stage  to  make  the 
enforcement  of  an  award  compulsory  on  the  powers 
would  not  make  for  peace.  The  powers  must  act, 
in  each  case,  as  they  can  and  as  they  choose.  Very 
often  they  will  find  a  settlement  which  avoids  war. 
Sometimes  they  will  not.  But  at  least  we  may  rea- 
sonably hope  for  a  much  more  general  will  for  peace 
than  we  get  under  existing  conditions. 

"The  improbability  of  war,  I  believe,  would  be 
increased  in  proportion  as  the  issues  of  foreign  pol- 
icy should  be  known  to  and  controlled  by  public 
opinion.  There  must  be  an  end  of  the  secret  diplo- 
macy which  has  plunged  us  into  this  catastrophe. 
To  say  this  is  not,  of  course,  to  suggest  that  com- 
plicated and  delicate  negotiations  should  be  con- 
ducted in  public.  But  there  should  be  no  more 

100 

• 


secret  treaties  or  arrangements  of  any  kind,  like, 
for  example,  the  clauses  of  the  Morocco  treaties 
whereby  Great  Britain,  France  and  Spain  looked 
forward  to  the  partition  of  that  country  while  pub- 
licly guaranteeing  its  integrity  and  independence 
before  the  world;  or  like  those  military  and  naval 
'conversations'  by  which,  in  effect,  the  Foreign  Sec- 
retary pledged  our  honor  to  defend  France  in  cer- 
tain contingencies,  behind  the  back  of  Parliament 
and  the  nation.  All  nations  ought  to  know  and  con- 
stantly be  reminded  of  all  their  commitments  to 
other  powers,  and  all  the  complications  which  con- 
stitute the  danger  centers  of  Europe.  I  am  aware 
of  all  that  may  be  said  about  the  latent  jingoism 
of  crowds,  and  the  power  of  an  unscrupulous  press 
to  work  upon  it.  But  we  have  all  that  as  it  is.  It 
is  what  governments  rely  upon  and  call  upon  when 
they  intend  to  make  war.  The  essence  of  the  pres- 
ent situation  is  that  no  other  forces  have  time  to 
organize  themselves,  because  we  are  actually  at  war 
before  we  have  begun  to  realize  the  crisis.  With 
plenty  of  time  and  full  knowledge  the  better  ele- 
ments of  public  opinion  could  be  rallied.  The  pro- 
101 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

posed  league  of  peace  would  secure  the  necessary 
delay.  If,  then,  at  the  last,  the  public  opinion  of 
any  nations  insisted  on  war,  there  would  be  war. 
But  at  least  every  force  working  against  war  would 
have  come  into  play. 

"The  objection  is  sometimes  taken  against  our 
proposal  that  the  league  will  be  led  to  interfere  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  its  members,  as  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance did  under  the  influence  of  Metternich.  But 
this  objection  appears  to  rest  on  a  misconception. 
In  so  far  indeed  as  internal  unrest  in  any  state 
might  generate  international  complications  —  as, 
for  example,  in  the  case  of  the  oppression  of  the 
Slavs  by  the  Magyars — it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
council  of  conciliation  to  suggest  a  solution  which 
would  involve  changes  in  the  internal  policy  of  the 
state  in  question.  But  the  powers  included  in  the 
league  would  not  be  bound  to  intervene  by  force  if 
the  solution  should  be  rejected.  And  if  any  of 
them  did  in  fact  intervene,  that  would  not  be  in  con- 
sequence of  the  league,  but  in  pursuance  of  a  pol- 
icy which  they  would  have  adopted  in  any  case, 
102 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

league  or  no  league.  The  only  contribution  made 
by  the  council  would  be  a  wholly  satisfactory  one — 
a  recommendation  to  a  state  pursuing  an  unsound 
policy  of  a  policy  more  sound  and  more  likely  to 
lead  to  peace,  a  recommendation  made  by  a  body 
which  might  fairly  claim  to  be  supported  by  the 
public  opinion  of  the  world.  Such  a  recommenda- 
tion might  be  successful,  and,  if  it  were,  it  would 
be  all  to  the  good.  If  it  were  unsuccessful,  the  re- 
sult would  be  at  least  no  worse  than  if  the  league 
had  not  existed.  For  the  terms  of  the  treaty  con- 
fer on  the  members  of  the  league  no  right,  and 
impose  no  duty,  to  intervene  by  force  in  the  inter- 
nal affairs  of  the  component  states. 

"Given  a  league  of  peace,  a  limitation  and  reduc- 
tion of  armaments  might  follow.  It  might,  indeed, 
be  introduced  even  if  no  such  league  were  formed. 
For  economic  exhaustion  might  lead  the  powers, 
after  this  war,  to  attempt  seriously  the  limitation 
which  was  the  immediate  object  of  the  First  Hague 
Conference,  but  which  was  rejected  as  impracti- 
cable. It  is  most  desirable  that  they  should  do  so. 
103 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

Yet  it  seems  clear  that  whatever  basis  of  limitation 
was  laid  down  there  would  be. plots  to  evade  it  on 
the  part  of  one  or  another  power,  so  long  as  there 
is  no  security  against  sudden  and  unprovoked  at- 
tacks. Such  security  might  be  given  by  a  league 
of  peace.  I  do  not  see  how  it  could  be  given  other- 
wise. Nor  would  a  mere  limitation  of  armaments, 
in  itself,  prevent  such  attacks.  It  would  make  war 
less  destructive ;  it  could  not  make  it  impossible,  or 
even  improbable.  Desirable,  therefore,  though  this 
measure  may  be,  it  would  seem  that  it  would  natu- 
rally follow  or  accompany,  rather  than  precede,  a 
league  of  peace. 

"In  any  case,  governments  should  cease  to  em- 
ploy private  armament  firms.  I  am  aware  that 
there  are  technical  and  economic  reasons  to  be  urged 
against  this  course.  But  I  believe  them  to  be  out- 
weighed by  the  fact,  now  sufficiently  proved,  that 
the  private  firms  deliberately  encourage  the  growth 
of  armaments  in  order  to  get  orders  for  their 
goods. 

"The  suggestions  here  put  forward  are  not  in- 
tended to  be  more  than  a  sketch  of  what  might  be 
104 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

immediately  practicable  at  the  peace.    They  do  not 
profess  to  represent  in  themselves  an  ideal.     For 
political  arrangements  can  not  constitute  an  ideal; 
they  can  at  most  give  it  opportunity  to  realize  it- 
self.    I  hope,  therefore,  that  after  meeting  the 
opposition  of  the  skeptics  and  the  practical  men, 
I   shall  not  have  to  meet  that  of  the   idealists. 
Some  day,  I  hope  with  them,  a  Europe  will  come 
into  being  in  which  there  will  be  neither  enemy 
states  nor  rival  armaments.    But  the  time  is  not  yet. 
There  are  many  forces  working  in  that  direction,  if 
only  they  had  time  to  do  their  work.     I  want  to 
give  them  breathing  space.    For  what  happens,  un- 
der present  arrangements,  is  that  during  years  of 
peace  the  movement  of  civilization  proceeds  in  its 
two  inseparable  aspects  of  social  reform  and  inter- 
national organization.     Pacifists  grow  hopeful  and 
active.     Commerce,  travel,  art,  literature,  science, 
begin  to  unite  the  nations.     Armaments  appear  ri- 
diculous, and  wars,  what  they  are,  crimes.    But  the 
enemy  is  watching.     Silently,  behind  the  scenes,  he 
has  been  preparing.     In  a  moment  he  strikes,  and 
the  work  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  is  undone.    Let 
105 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

us  be  under  no  illusions.    While  there  is  war  there 
can  be  no  secure  progress.     If  we  want  society  to 
develop  into  anything  good,  we  must  stop  war. 
That,  in  itself,  it  is  true  will  not  give  us  the  ideal. 
But  it  will  remove  a  main  obstacle  to  it.     Change 
of  will,  change  of  ideas,  moral  and  spiritual  devel- 
opment, that  is  what  we  want,  I  agree.    But  we  can 
no  longer  afford  to  rely  only  on  that.     For  before 
that  has  become  strong  enough  to  make  war  impos- 
sible, war  arrives  and  destroys  the  development.    A 
device  to  avoid  war,  even  though  it  be  in  a  sense 
only  mechanical,  is  therefore  none  the  less  essential. 
Then,  with  the  peace  thus  secured,  the  new  Europe 
may  slowly  be  built  up.    Otherwise,  those  who  want 
no  new  Europe  can  always  sweep  away  its  rudi- 
ments by  force.     I  ask,  therefore,  the  support  of 
idealists  as  much  as  of  practical  men.     I  ask  the 
support  of  all  except  those  who  believe  that  war 
itself  is  the  ideal.     Of  those  who  believe  in  peace 
these  men  are  the  only  ultimate  enemies.    But  they 
can  not  be  converted.    They  must  be  circumvented. 
And  what  I  suggest  would,  I  believe,  be  a  way  to 
circumvent  them." 

106 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

The  League  to  Enforce  Peace 

A  more  developed  form  of  Holt's  idea,  with  a 
greater  extension  of  the  police  force  behind  it,  is 
found  in  the  platform  of  The  League  to  Enforce 
Peace,  adopted  at  Philadelphia  in  June,  1915,  Will- 
iam Howard  Taft  being  president.  This  plan  con- 
templates a  league  of  law-abiding  nations,  pledged 
to  attack  any  of  their  number  or  any  other  nation 
which  shall  first  begin  hostilities.  The  theory  is  that 
any  international  difference  is  susceptible  of  exam- 
ination and  adjustment  or  arbitration.  The  whole 
neutral  or  law-abiding  world  is  thrown  into  confu- 
sion by  any  act  of  war.  War  is  in  itself  the  denial 
of  law  and  a  declaration  of  war  is  in  itself  an  avowal 
of  lawlessness.  Such  a  declaration  affects  the  rights 
of  all  nations  and  all  nations  have  the  right  to  be 
consulted. 

The  central  idea  of  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace 
is  thus  stated  by  its  president,  Mr.  Taft : 

"All  the  world  is  interested  in  preventing  war  in 
any  part  of  the  world.  Neutrals  are  so  subject  to 
loss,  to  injury  and  to  violation  of  their  rights,  that 
107 


WAYS   TO    LASTING    PEACE 

they  have  a  direct  interest  in  preventing  war,  and 
so  direct  is  their  interest  that  we  may  well  hope  that 
international  law  may  advance  to  the  point  of  de- 
veloping that  interest  into  an  international  right 
to  be  consulted  before  war  begins  with  neighbors. 
The  central  basis  of  the  plan  which  we  respectfully 
recommend  to  the  authorities  who  shall  represent 
our  government  in  any  world  conference  that  will 
necessarily  follow  the  peace,  is  that  the  great  pow- 
ers of  the  world  be  invited  to  form  a  League  of 
Peace,  which  shall  embody  in  the  covenant  that 
binds  its  members  the  principle  just  announced,  to 
wit,  that  every  member  of  the  League  has  a  right 
to  be  consulted  before  war  shall  be  perpetrated 
between  any  two  members  of  the  League ;  or  to  put 
it  another  way,  that  the  whole  League  shall  use  its 
entire  power  to  require  any  member  of  the  League 
that  wishes  to  fight  any  other  member  of  the  League 
to  submit  the  issue  upon  which  that  member  desires 
to  go  to  war  to  a  machinery  for  its  peaceful  settle- 
ment before  it  does  go  to  war." 

The   following  detailed  statements   of  purpose 
have  been  recently  put  forth  by  the  League,  and 
108 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

these  have  the  general  approval  of  the  friends  of 
peace  in  America: 

"The  league  of  nations  here  proposed  would  be 
brought  into  existence  after  the  close  of  the  pres- 
ent European  war  and  would  have  as  its  object  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  condition  of  law  and 
order  among  the  nations.  The  League  does  not 
concern  itself  in  any  way  with  the  war  now  in  prog- 
ress. It  seeks  instead  to  unite  the  great  mass  of 
sentiment  against  war  which  will  exist  in  this  and 
other  lands  after  the  unparalleled  slaughter  now 
going  on,  in  a  practical  plan  to  prevent  the  repeti- 
tion of  such  disaster. 

"The  maintenance  of  law  and  order  in  its  own 
territory  is  an  imperative  duty  which  every  nation 
owes  to  its  citizens.  A  further  duty  is  to  join  with 
other  nations  in  maintaining  law  and  order  in  the 
society  of  nations.  Neglect  of  the  former  duty 
results  in  anarchy  at  home;  neglect  of  the  latter, 
in  anarchy  among  the  nations. 

"For  the  establishment  of  law  and  order  in  their 
own  territory,  the  Thirteen  American  States  found 
it  necessary  to  create  a  Federal  Government.  For 
109 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

the  establishment  of  law  and  order  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  world  it  has  manifestly  become  neces- 
sary to  create  a  federation,  or  League,  of  the  na- 
tions, with  definite  but  limited  powers. 

"As  America  has  in  the  past  borne  her  part  in 
working  out  and  establishing  the  principles  of  jus- 
tice and  democracy  between  individual  men  within 
the  nation,  it  is  now  her  duty  to  share  the  burden 
of  the  nations  in  making  the  world,  their  common 
heritage,  a  place  where  peacefully  inclined  states 
can  be  secure  in  their  rights  and  liberties.  Oceans 
which  formerly  required  months  to  traverse  have 
shrunk  almost  to  rivers  with  the  advent  of  modern 
means  of  communication.  The  day  has  passed  for 
maintaining  America's  traditional  policy  of  isola- 
tion, as  it  passed  half  a  century  ago  for  the  main- 
tenance by  Japan  of  her  peculiar  policy  of  isola- 
tion. 

The  League's  Proposals 

ARTICLE  I 

'*  'All  justiciable  questions  arising  between  the 
signatory  powers,  not  settled  by  negotiation,  sliall, 
subject  to  the  limitations  of  treaties,  be  submitted 
110 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

to  a  judicial  tribunal  for  hearing  and  judgment, 
both  upon  the  merits  and  upon  any  issue  as  to  its 
jurisdiction  of  the  question.' 

"A  justiciable  question  is  one  which  can  be  set- 
tled according  to  the  principles  of  law  and  equity. 
Our  claims  against  England  arising  from  the  rav- 
ages of  the  Confederate  cruiser  Alabama  were  jus- 
ticiable. So  were  the  Alaska  Boundary  and  the 
North  Atlantic  Fisheries  Disputes.  Many  of  the 
quarrels  between  nations  are  of  this  character. 

"Just  as  individuals  settle  between  themselves 
many  controversies  which  might  be  carried  before 
the  courts,  so  nations  settle  by  negotiation,  through 
diplomacy,  most  of  the  disputes  which  arise  be- 
tween them.  The  habit  is  a  good  one  and  ought 
to  be  continued.  But  when  diplomacy  fails  to  set- 
tle a  quarrel  between  nations,  it  is  no  more  logical 
and  right  for  them  to  resort  at  once  to  war  than 
it  would  be  for  two  men  who  had  failed  to  settle 
a  private  difference  to  draw  their  pistols  and  be- 
gin to  shoot. 

"Against  the  time  when  citizens  failed  to  agree, 
the  state  has  provided  the  courts  as  agencies  to 
111 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

mete  out  justice  and  to  promote  peaceable  rela- 
tions between  them.  Against  the  day  when  two  or 
more  states  of  the  American  Union  fail  to  settle 
their  controversy,  the  Federal  Constitution  has  pro- 
vided the  Supreme  Court  as  an  agency  for  admin- 

i 

istering  justice  and  maintaining  peace  between 
those  states. 

"The  problem  of  securing  justice  among  the  civ- 
ilized nations  and  of  maintaining  peaceful  relations 
among  them  is,  in  its  essence,  the  same  as  we  have 
successfully  solved  in  the  national  and  municipal 
realms  and  can  with  equal  propriety  and  success 
be  entrusted  to  a  judicial  tribunal  or  court.  The 
best  thought  in  all  the  civilized  nations  is,  indeed, 
already  agreed  that  such  an  international  court 
ought  to  be  constituted  and  to  have  jurisdiction 
over  all  justiciable  questions,  save  those  which  may 
be  reserved  by  treaty  agreement  for  settlement  in 
some  other  way. 

ARTICLE  II 

'  'All  other  questions  arising  between  the  signa- 
tories and  not  settled  by  negotiation  shall  be  sub- 


mitted  to  a  council  of  conciliation  for  hearing,  con- 
sideration and  recommendation.* 

"Disputes  arise  between  nations  which  they  are 
unable  or  unwilling  to  settle  according  to  rules 
of  international  law.  Political  questions  and  ques- 
tions of  national  policy  often  belong  to  this  class. 
A  controversy  concerning  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
would  probably  present  a  non- justiciable  issue,  as 
might  also  the  arbitrary  exercise  of  our  undoubted 
right  to  admit  or  to  exclude  such  immigrants  as 
we  might  think  to  be  helpful  or  harmful  to  our 
national  life. 

"But  if  one's  neighbor  believes  that  he  will  be 
injured  by  a  proposed  course  of  action,  a  just  and 
peace-loving  man  is  ready  to  talk  it  over,  even 
though  his  legal  right  to  do  what  he  proposes  is 
perfectly  clear.  So  a  nation  which  desires  justice 
and  peace  will  be  ready  to  listen  to  the  advice  of 
a  council  of  conciliation  concerning  a  policy  or 
course  of  conduct  which  aggrieves  a  sister  nation, 
before  persisting  in  it. 

"While  America  would  not  readily  consent  to 
have  the  Monroe  Doctrine  go  before  a  court  for 
113 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

judicial  review  and  decision,  there  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  listen  to  what  a  board  of  distin- 
guished and  honorable  men,  intent  on  securing  jus- 
tice and  preventing  war,  have  to  say  concerning  the 
broad  international  aspects  and  results  of  a  pro- 
posed application  of  this  doctrine.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  is  every  reason  why  we  should  listen  to 
such  impartial  advice  on  this  or  any  other  question, 
given,  as  it  would  be,  under  a  deep  sense  of  respon- 
sibility. The  more  certain  we  were  of  the  justice 
of  our  cause,  the  more  desirous  we  were  to  maintain 
just  and  peaceful  relations  with  the  world,  the 
more  ready  we  should  be  to  listen. 

"It  hardly  needs  to  be  pointed  out  to  Americans 
to-day  that  the  interests  of  humanity  and  of  neu- 
tral nations  are  more  sacred  than  is  the  right  of 
any  one  state  to  insist  on  taking  her  own  course 
without  waiting  to  see  what  other  nations  think 
about  its  justice,  or  what  the  results  to  the  world 
may  be.  Valuable  as  the  principle  of  arbitration 
and  conciliation  is  in  keeping  peace  between  indi- 
viduals, it  is  still  more  vital  for  the  solution  of  the 
grave  questions  on  which  the  welfare  and  the  peace 
114 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF   WAR 

of  the  whole  world  depend.  No  nation  has  a  right 
to  claim  exemption  from  the  obligation  to  give  a 
hearing  to  friendly  nations  in  disputes  to  which 

she  is  a  party. 

ARTICLE  III 

"  'The  signatory  powers  shall  jointly  use  forth- 
with both  their  economic  and  military  forces  against 
any  one  of  their  number  that  goes  to  "war,  or  com- 
mits acts  of  hostility,  against  another  of  the  signa- 
tories before  any  question  arising  shall  be  submit- 
ted as  provided  in  the  foregoing.9 

"The  chief  instrument  by  which  peaceful  rela- 
tions are  promoted  between  individuals  is  law,  inter- 
preted by  the  courts  and  enforced,  when  necessary, 
by  police  and  military  power.  No  better  way  exists 
for  promoting  peaceful  relations  between  the  na- 
tions than  the  extension  of  this  method  to  the  inter- 
national sphere.  In  frontier  towns  without  a  po- 
lice, citizens  had  to  arm  to  protect  themselves,  and 
assaults  and  assassinations  abounded.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  an  agreement  among  the  nations  to  estab- 
lish at  need  a  posse  comitatus  for  the  protection  of 
115 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

any  state  which  may  be  wrongfully  threatened  by 
another,  each  nation,  no  matter  how  devoted  to 
peace,  is  compelled  to  arm  for  its  own  defense.  It 
is  a  sort  of  frontier  condition  which  exists  among 
the  nations  and  its  results  are  disastrous  as  we  now 
see  plainly.  The  only  way  to  bring  national  prep- 
aration for  war  within  reasonable  limits  is  by  a  bet- 
ter and  stronger  international  preparation  to  keep 
the  peace. 

"The  kernel  of  the  proposals  of  the  League  to 
Enforce  Peace  is  found  in  the  provision  for  using 
the  joint  forces  of  the  nations,  economic  and  mili- 
tary, against  any  state  which  breaks  the  peace  be- 
fore resorting  to  arbitration  or  conciliation,  and 
doing  it  forthwith  without  stopping  for  consulta- 
tions and  parleyings  which  often  result  in  doing 
nothing. 

"The  difficulty  of  ascertaining  which  nation  be- 
gins a  war  will  not  impair  the  effectiveness  of  the 
proposal  that  the  League  shall  combine  against  the 
aggressor,  any  more  than  the  effectiveness  of  the 
police  as  peace  officers  is  impaired  by  the  fact  that 
it  is  often  impossible  to  tell  which  of  the  two  men 
116 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

began  a  fight  on  the  street.  In  doubtful  cases  the 
policeman  does  not  attempt  to  decide  who  was  the 
aggressor,  but  subdues  the  man  who  resists  arrest 
and  takes  both  parties  to  the  quarrel  before  the 
magistrate,  whose  duty  it  is  to  decide  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  assault.  So  the  League  would  not 
have  to  decide  who  committed  the  original  offense, 
but  would  use  its  forces  against  the  nation  that  per- 
sisted in  making  war  before  submitting  the  dispute 
to  the  court  or  the  council  of  conciliation. 

"The  League  does  not  propose  that  decisions  of 
the  court  and  recommendations  of  the  council  of 
conciliation  shall  be  enforced.  Experience  teaches 
that  if  a  conflict  is  postponed  until  the  cause  of 
controversy  has  been  publicly  examined,  war  will 
generally  be  prevented.  In  those  rare  cases  in 
which  differences  are  so  profound  that  people  will 
fight  over  them  at  any  cost,  it  is  still  worth  while 
to  postpone  the  conflict,  to  have  a  public  discussion 
of  the  question  at  issue  before  a  tribunal,  and  thus 
to  give  to  the  people  of  the  countries  involved  a 
chance  to  consider,  before  hostilities  begin,  whether 
the  risk  and  suffering  of  war  is  really  worth  while. 
117 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 
ARTICLE  IV 


"  'Conferences  between  the  signatory  powers 
shall  be  held  from  time  to  time  to  formulate  and 
codify  rules  of  international  law,  which,  unless  some 
signatory  shall  signify  its  dissent  within  a  stated 
period,  shall  thereafter  govern  in  the  decisions  of 
the  judicial  tribunal  mentioned  in  Article  7.' 

"An  international  assembly  which  should  meet 
periodically  to  formulate  and  codify  rules  of  inter- 
national law  is  an  essential  part  of  the  plan  for 
securing  international  peace.  It  would  provide  a 
means  for  anticipating  controversies  before  they 
arise  and  settling  them  in  a  spirit  of  friendly  co- 
operation in  time  of  peace.  It  would  afford  an  op- 
portunity for  raising  the  standards  of  international 
law  and  laying  down  fundamental  principles  which, 
without  such  conference,  are  liable  to  remain  indef- 
inite. If  it  were  provided  by  international  agree- 
ment that  the  acts  of  such  a  body  should  have  the 
force  of  law  unless  some  nation  within  the  League 
interposed  a  veto  within  a  specified  period,  such  a 
118 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

conference  would  steadily  grow  in  moral  power  and 
might  well  prove  to  be,  in  the  end,  the  most  valuable 
feature  of  the  proposed  League. 

"These  proposals  are  put  forward  as  pointing 
out  the  road  along  which  the  nations  must  sooner 
or  later  travel  in  their  efforts  to  establish  a  just  and 
stable  peace,  and  not  as  a  complete  and  final  plan. 
It  is  realized  that  they  are  not  free  from  objections. 
The  representatives  of  the  nations  assembled  to 
draw  up  a  treaty  which  should  establish  a  League 
to  Enforce  Peace  would  no  doubt  modify  them. 
They  might  not  be  willing  to  go  so  far  as  is  here 
proposed ;  they  might  wish  to  go  much  farther  and 
to  provide  for  a  more  complete  form  of  world  gov- 
ernment than  is  now  suggested. 

"Full  confidence  in  the  general  wisdom  of  the 
plan  existed,  however,  among  the  three  hundred 
distinguished  men  who  composed  the  Independence 
Hall  Conference  and  the  much  larger  number  who 
had  examined  and  approved  the  resolutions  but  were 
unable  to  attend.  It  was  felt  to  be  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  begin  now  the  unification  of  opinion  around 
a  plan  so  simple  as  to  be  practical  and  attainable, 
119 


so  that  a  great  body  of  supporters  in  many  lands 
will  be  prepared  to  present  and  urge  it  upon  the 
attention  of  their  governments  when  the  reorgan- 
ization of  Europe  and  of  the  world  is  under  con- 
sideration at  the  close  of  the  war." 

Such  an  alliance  as  is  here  contemplated  is  for- 
eign to  the  traditions  of  the  United  States,  though 
the  time  may  come  when  these  traditions  should 
be  readjusted.  A  democracy  is,  however,  a  form 
of  government  ill-fitted  for  knight-errantry.  More- 
over, a  League  of  Peace  is  one  especially  hard  to 
hold  together,  especially  at  first. 

In  spite  of  these  facts  and  with  some  doubt  as 
to  the  word  "enforce,"  as  against  "maintain,"  the 
writer  signed  the  constitution  of  the  League,  be- 
lieving that  "Time  brings  Counsel,"  and  if  the 
practical  results  from  the  League  are  what  we 
hope,  we  shall  be  better  fitted  later  than  now  to 
state  what  sanction,  if  any,  it  can  receive  from 
an  international  force,  it  being  understood  that  the 
"force"  to  be  used  at  need  is  essentially  a  police 
force,  that  is,  an  organized  group  wholly  under 
civil  control  to  carry  out  civic  purposes.  The 
120 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

League  involves  the  beginning  of  World  Federa- 
tion, but  the  cement  of  such  an  organization  must 
lie  in  common  interest  and  human  intelligence — 
not  in  force. 

A  Congress  of  Neutrals  Proposed  in  the  Pan- 
American  Union 

"The  first  international  conference  of  neutral  na- 
tions which  discussed  questions  arising  out  of  the 
present  war  was  a  meeting  of  the  Governing  Board 
of  the  Pan-American  Union  at  Washington,  De- 
cember 8,  1914.  The  delegates  from  eight  Amer- 
ican republics,  most  of  them  acting  under  specific 
instructions  from  their  governments,  urged  united 
action  by  the  American  nations  to  assert  the  neces- 
sity of  newer  and  clearer  definitions  of  neutral  and 
belligerent  rights,  and  to  consider  some  of  the  bur- 
dens placed  upon  commerce  by  the  European  war. 
It  was  declared  by  some  of  the  speakers  that  the 
complications  between  America  and  European  states 
already  resulting  from  the  presence  of  belligerent 
warships  in  American  waters  had  demonstrated 
anew  the  vital  need  of  Pan-American  solidarity. 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

"After  a  general  discussion  the  following  reso- 
lution was  adopted  unanimously : 

"  'The  governing  board  of  the  Pan-American 
Union  declares : 

"  '1.  That  the  magnitude  of  the  present  Euro- 
pean war  presents  new  problems  of  international 
law,  the  solution  of  which  is  of  equal  interest  to  the 
entire  world. 

"  '2.  That  in  the  form  in  which  the  operations 
of  the  belligerents  are  developing,  they  redound  to 
the  injury  of  the  neutrals. 

"  '3.  That  the  principal  cause  for  this  result 
is  that  the  respective  rights  of  the  belligerents  and 
the  neutrals  are  not  clearly  defined,  notwithstand- 
ing that  such  definition  is  demanded  both  by  gen- 
eral convenience  and  by  that  spirit  of  justice,  which 
doubtless  animates  the  belligerents  with  respect  to 
the  interests  of  the  neutrals. 

"  *4.  That  considerations  of  every  character  call 
for  a  definition  of  such  rights  as  promptly  as  pos- 
sible upon  the  principle  that  liberty  of  commerce 
should  not  be  restricted  beyond  the  point  indis- 
pensable for  military  operations. 
122 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

"  'On  these  grounds  the  Governing  Board  of  the 
Pan-American  Union  resolves: 

"  *1.  A  special  committee  of  the  same  is  hereby 
appointed  to  consist  of  nine  members,  of  which  the 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  shall  form 
part,  acting  as  chairman  thereof  ex-officio. 

"  (%.  This  commission  shall  study  the  problems 
presented  by  the  present  European  war  and  shall 
submit  to  the  Governing  Board  the  suggestions  it 
may  deem  of  common  interest.  In  the  study  of 
questions  of  technical  character  this  commission  will 
consult  the  Board  of  Jurists. 

"  '3.  Each  government  may  submit  to  the  com- 
mittee such  plans  or  suggested  resolutions  as  may 
be  deemed  convenient  on  the  different  subjects  that 
circumstances  suggest.' 

"The  committee  was  immediately  appointed,  to 
consist  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  Ambassadors  from  Brazil,  Chile, 
Argentina;  the  Ministers  from  Uruguay,  Peru, 
Ecuador  and  Honduras.  Mexico  was  not  repre- 
sented. 

"To  the  committee  thus  created  the  government 
123 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

of  Venezuela  instructed  its  representative  at  Wash- 
ington to  submit  a  proposal  for  a  congress  of  neu- 
trals. This  proposition  was  formally  presented  to 
the  committee,  January  7,  1915,  by  the  Venezuelan 
Minister,  Doctor  Santos  A.  Dominici,  in  a  speech, 
of  which  the  following  paragraphs  are  an  abstract : 

"  'We  all  agree  that  the  circumstances  attending 
modern  warfare  demand,  more  sternly  each  day, 
new  limitations  of  the  rights  of  belligerents  in  or- 
der to  safeguard  the  rights  of  neutrals,  and  that  it 
is  beyond  discussion  that  over  against  the  rights 
of  belligerents  stand  the  rights  of  neutrals  to  pre- 
pare and  organize  an  effective  action  for  their  own 
security. 

"  'This  is  the  action  proposed  by  Venezuela  in 
the  shape  of  a  congress  of  neutrals  to  define,  in  the 
light  of  modern  warfare,  the  rights  and  duties  of 
neutrals,  and  in  time  to  submit  their  conclusions  to 
a  congress  of  all  nations;  these  conclusions,  after 
being  unanimously  accepted — as  it  is  meet  they 
should  be,  as  a  matter  of  justice  and  expediency, 
because  the  belligerent  of  to-day  is  the  neutral  of 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

to-morrow — should  be  embodied  definitely  in  inter- 
national laws. 

"  'The  Venezuelan  government  also  believes  that 
such  a  congress  might  establish  a  new  duty,  that 
of  a  union  of  neutrals  in  case  of  conflicts  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  present,  in  order  to  protect  their 
own  interests;  a  duty  the  logical  consequence  of 
which  would  be  a  new  right,  that  of  mediating, 
which  should,  of  course,  be  exercised  with  all  such 
restrictions  and  limitations  as  would  make  it  com- 
patible with  the  respect  due  to  the  rights  of  bellig- 
erents. Thus  we  should,  by  a  further  step,  come  to 
the  creation  of  a  permanent  body,  which  from  the 
very  beginning  of  a  conflict  would  represent  such 
union  of  neutrals,  and  in  the  exercise  of  its  right 
to  be  heard  might  in  the  majority  of  cases  avoid  a 
rupture,  and  in  any  case  might  limit  the  extent, 
duration  and  range  of  hostilities.'  " 

The  Commission  of  Inquiry 

A  plan  of  a  Pan-American  Union  for  Peace  has 
been  submitted  to  the  Union  by  Alberto  Membreno, 
125 


WAYS   TO   LASTING   PEACE 

Minister  from  Honduras  to  Washington.    The  last 
of  the  memorandum  is  as  follows : 

"Among  the  wise  provisions  contained  in  The 
Hague  Convention  of  1907,  there  is  one,  in  Article 
IX,  creating  an  international  commission  of  in- 
quiry. Unfortunately  this  provision  excludes,  from 
the  remedy  provided,  disputes  involving  either  the 
honor  or  the  vital  interests  of  nations;  in  other 
words,  the  very  cases  in  which  the  services  of  im- 
partial parties  are  most  needed  to  study  the  issue 
calmly.  Experience  shows  that  duels  are  not 
fought — and  duels  are  serious  questions  of  honor 
among  individuals — when  the  seconds  obtain  an 
explanation  which  is  satisfactory  to  the  one  who 
claims  that  an  offense  has  been  committed  demand- 
ing a  blood  satisfaction.  Those  who  discharge  ex- 
ecutive functions  in  the  government  of  states  are, 
so  to  speak,  more  strictly  under  obligation  to  hear 
and  consider  reasons  based  on  justice  and  expedi- 
ency because,  if  it  is  true  that  in  war  they  run  a 
certain  amount  of  personal  risk,  the  greatest  sacri- 
fice is  made  by  the  people,  and  the  damage,  as  in 
the  present  instance,  extends  to  all  nations. 
126  . 


DEMOCRATIC    CONTROL    OF    WAR 

"The  government  of  the  United  States  repre- 
senting the  people  of  the  United  States — a  people 
who  believe  that  the  prosperity  of  nations  results 
from  work  and  not  from  the  extermination  of  those 
who  in  the  struggle  for  life  are  battling  for  vic- 
tory— has  enhanced  the  principles  set  forth  by  the 
authors  of  The  Hague  Convention,  in  the  sense 
that  the  commission  of  inquiry  may  take  cognizance 
of  all  disputes  of  every  nature  whatsoever. 

"This  doctrine  as  amended  is  a  part  of  the 
treaties  lately  concluded  between  the  United  States 
and  almost  all  the  American  nations,  as  well  as 
many  European  countries.  We  may,  therefore  em- 
body it  in  international  law. 

"I  take  the  liberty  of  proposing  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan-American 
Union  present  to  their  respective  governments  for 
their  consideration  the  following  rules : 

"1.  All  disputes  of  every  nature  whatsoever 
which  it  has  not  been  possible  to  adjust  through 
diplomatic  methods  shall  be  referred  for  investiga- 
tion and  report  to  an  international  commission, 
and,  pending  the  full  discharge  of  its  duties  by  said 
127 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

commission,  the  nations  engaged  in  the  dispute  can 
not  declare  war  or  begin  hostilities  against  each 

other. 

"2.  This  commission  shall  be  a  permanent  one, 
and  may  act  on  its  own  initiative.  In  this  case  it 
behooves  the  commission  to  serve  due  notice  to  the 
parties  in  dispute,  and  to  request  their  co-operation 
in  order  fully  to  discharge  its  duties. 

"3.  The  number  of  members  of  which  the  com- 
mission shall  consist,  their  qualifications,  manner  of 
appointment,  place  where  the  commission  shall  sit, 
manner  of  procedure,  and  time  for  the  submission 
of  its  report,  shall  be  fixed  by  treaty  or  by  any  other 
method  whereby  the  agreements  reached  by  the  gov- 
ernments may  have  full  force  and  authority." 


CHAPTER  III 

WOMEN  AND  WAB 

The  Woman's  Peace  Party 

THE  Woman's  Peace  Party,  under  the  lead  of 
Jane  Addams,  has  a  peace  program  of  real  im- 
portance. The  purpose  is  to  bring  woman,  the  great- 
est sufferer  under  war,  and  to  whom,  as  a  class, 
war  has  never  shown  any  consideration,  to  her  nat- 
ural place  as  the  uncompromising  opponent  of  war. 
An  outgrowth  from  the  meeting  held  in  Washing- 
ton in  January,  1915,  was  the  World's  Congress  of 
representative  women,  meeting  at  The  Hague  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  under  the  presidency 
of  Jane  Addams  and  on  the  invitation  of  Wil- 
helmina,  Queen  of  Holland.  This  meeting  can  not 
fail  to  be  of  the  greatest  value  in  determining  the 
public  opinion  among  the  women  of  Europe.  It 
can  hardly  bring  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities. 
It  may  not  even  shorten  the  war,  but  it  should 
certainly  have  a  great  influence  in  determining  fu- 
129 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

hire  public  opinion.  Its  program  is  essentially 
similar  to  that  of  the  Woman's  Peace  Party  of 
America,  the  purpose  of  the  meeting  not  being  to 
make  new  declarations,  but  to  encourage  and  so- 
lidify throughout  the  world  the  feeling  of  women 
against  war  and  the  war  system. 

The  women  ask  for  the  gradual  organization  of 
the  world  for  order,  and  the  substitution  of  law 
for  war ;  for  the  limitation  of  armaments,  for  inter- 
national police,  democratic  control  of  foreign  pol- 
icies, enfranchisement  of  women,  organized  opposi- 
tion to  militarism  at  home,  and  the  education  of 
youth  in  the  ideas  of  peace ;  for  the  removal  of  the 
economic  causes  of  war,  and,  as  an  immediate  meas- 
ure, the  calling  of  a  conference  of  neutral  nations. 

The  women  have  been  the  first  to  insist  on  free- 
ing the  schools  from  the  influence  of  militarism 
with  its  distortions  of  history  and  its  perversions 
of  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  from  love  of  country 
to  hatred  and  distrust  of  other  peoples. 

The  following  is  the  platform  of  the  Woman's 
Peace  Party,  adopted  at  Washington,  January  10, 
1915: 

130 


WOMEN    AND   WAR 

"The  purpose  of  this  organization  is  to  enlist 
all  American  women  in  arousing  the  nations  to 
respect  the  sacredness  of  human  life  and  to  abol- 
ish war.  The  following  is  adopted  as  our  plat- 
form: 

"1.  The  immediate  calling  of  a  convention  of 
neutral  nations  in  the  interest  of  early  peace. 

"£'.  Limitation  of  armaments  and  the  nationali- 
zation of  their  manufacture. 

"3.  Organized  opposition  to  militarism  in  our 
own  country. 

"4.    Education  of  youth  in  the  ideals  of  peace. 

"5.    Democratic  control  of  foreign  policies. 

"6.  The  further  humanizing  of  governments  by 
the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  women. 

"7.  'Concert  of  Nations'  to  supersede  'Balance 
of  Power.' 

"8.  Action  toward  the  gradual  organization  of 
the  world  to  substitute  Law  for  War. 

"9.  The  substitution  of  an  international  police 
for  rival  armies  and  navies. 

"10.    Removal  of  the  economic  causes  of  war. 

"11.  The  appointment  by  our  government  of  a 
131 


commission  of  men  and  women,  with  an  adequate 
appropriation,  to  promote  international  peace. 

"12.  That  we  denounce  with  all  the  earnestness 
of  which  we  are  capable  the  concerted  attempt  now 
being  made  to  force  this  country  into  still  further 
preparedness  for  war.  We  desire  to  make  a  sol- 
emn appeal  to  the  higher  attributes  of  our  common 
humanity  to  help  us  unmask  this  menace  to  our 
civilization." 

The  Women  of  Norway 

The  League  of  the  Women  of  Norway  had  still 
earlier  developed  a  similar  line  of  thought  and 
policy. 


The  International  Social  Women's  Congress  at 
Berne  (April,  1915)  demands  "a  speedy  ending 
of  the  war  by  a  peace  which  shall  expiate  the  wrong 
done  to  Belgium,  impose  no  humiliating  conditions 
on  any  nation,  and  recognize  the  right  of  all  na- 
tions, large  and  small,  to  independence  and  self- 
government." 

132 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

Mediation  Without  Armistice 

The  idea  of  "Mediation  Without  Armistice"  is 
strongly  urged  in  the  Wisconsin  Plan,  the  work 
of  Julia  Grace  Wales,  an  instructor  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  and  a  member  of  the  Wis- 
consin Peace  Society.  Of  all  the  discussions  of 
the  possibilities  of  mediation  and  the  ways  to  get 
it,  the  Wisconsin  Plan  seems  to  be  the  best  thought 
out  and  apparently  the  most  practical.  One  diffi- 
culty arises  from  the  fact  that  the  men  whose  char- 
acter and  knowledge  and  judicial  training  would 
enable  them  to  sit  on  a  commission  in  continuous 
session,  such  as  the  Wisconsin  Plan  proposes,  are 
needed  to  help  mediate  at  home — especially  in  the 
neutral  countries  of  Europe,  where  the  passions 
are  strongly  stirred  by  the  events  happening  at 
their  very  doors. 

Its  general  purpose  is  thus  stated  by  Miss 
Wales : 

"The  International  Plan  for  Continuous  Media- 
tion without  Armistice  suggests  that  an  Interna- 
tional Commission  of  experts  be  formed,  to  sit  as 
133 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

long  as  the  war  continues.  The  members  of  the 
Commission  should  have  a  scientific  but  no  diplo- 
matic function;  they  should  be  without  power  to 
commit  their  governments.  The  Commission  should 
explore  the  issues  involved  in  the  present  struggle, 
and  in  the  light  of  this  study  begin  making  prop- 
ositions to  the  belligerents  in  the  spirit  of  con- 
structive internationalism.  If  the  first  effort  fail, 
they  should  consult  and  deliberate,  revise  their  orig- 
inal propositions  or  offer  new  ones,  coming  back 
again  and  again  if  necessary,  in  the  unalterable 
conviction  that  some  proposal  will  ultimately  be 
found  that  will  afford  a  practical  basis  for  actual 
peace  negotiation.  The  Commission  should  be  es- 
tablished without  delay,  on  neutral  initiative. 

"Our  agreement  for  Continuous  Mediation  with- 
out Armistice  rests  on  the  following  convictions : 

"(1 )  That  humanity  should  be  able  to  find  some 
method  of  avoiding  prolonged  wholesale  destruc- 
tion; 

"(2)  That  on  both  sides  there  are  people  who 
believe  themselves  to  be  fighting  in  self-defense, 
who  desire  a  right  settlement,  and  who  ought  not 
134 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

to  have  to  fight  against  each  other;  that  it  is  an 
ultimate  outrage  against  humanity  that  they  have 
to  do  so; 

"(3)  That  the  only  way  to  straighten  the  tan- 
gle is  to  adopt  and  persistently  employ  the  device 
of  placing  simultaneous  conditional  proposals  ('will 
you if  the  rest  will?')  before  the  belliger- 
ents ;  that  neither  side  can  think  correctly  or  ef- 
fectively unless  it  has  among  the  data  of  its  think- 
ing exact  knowledge  as  to  how  the  enemy  (not 
merely  the  government  but  the  various  elements  of 
the  people)  would  react  to  every  possible  proposal 
for  settlement; 

"(4)  That  truth  tends  to  work  on  the  mind, 
and  that  to  place  sane  standing  proposals  before 
the  nations  would  tend  to  ripen  the  time  for  peace ; 

"(5)  That  delay  is  dangerous  because  bitter- 
ness and  the  desire  for  revenge  are  growing 
stronger,  and  the  civil  power  in  all  warring  coun- 
tries is  daily  growing  weaker  in  proportion  to  the 
military ; 

"(6)  That  there  ought  to  be  a  commission  of 
experts  sitting  throughout  the  war  and  in  some 
135 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

way  holding  the  possibilities  of  settlement  before 
the  belligerents ;  that  world  consciousness  is  trying 
to  break  through ;  that  a  world  thinking  organ 
should  be  created  and  that  the  creation  of  such 
an  organ  at  this  juncture  would  concentrate  and 
render  effective  the  idealism  of  all  nations  and  open 
the  possibility  of  establishing,  upon  a  deposed  mil- 
itarism, the  beginnings  of  World  Federation. 

"The  neutral  argument  assumes  that  both  sides 
are  equally  in  the  wrong — an  assumption  contrary 
to  truth  and  hence  fundamentally  immoral. 

"In  reply  to  this  charge  we  emphatically  assert 
that  the  neutral  propaganda  for  Continuous  Media- 
tion without  Armistice  makes  no  such  assumption. 
What  is  does  assume  is  that,  in  any  case,  there  are 
some  right-thinking  people  on  both  sides.  In  an 
appeal  for  co-operation  to  right-thinking  people 
in  all  countries,  neutral  and  belligerent,  whatever 
their  national  prejudices  in  connection  with  the 
present  war,  we  believe  that  it  would  be  out  of 
place  to  dogmatize  as  to  which  side,  if  either,  rep- 
resents the  cause  of  international  righteousness  for 
which  we  desire  to  contend,  in  working  for  the  es- 
136 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

tablishment  of  an  international  commission.  We 
believe  that  any  nation  sincerely  fighting  for  the 
right  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  plan  and  much 
to  gain,  that  the  plan  is  on  the  side  of  any  country 
that  is  on  the  side  of  international  righteousness. 
We  believe  that  the  plan  of  Continuous  Mediation 
without  Armistice  will  tend  to  assist  and  reward 
right  motives  in  every  country  and  to  thwart  wrong 
motives.  We  believe  that  the.  citizen  of  any  coun- 
try understanding  our  plan  and  believing  that  his 
own  country  is  fighting  for  the  right  will  feel  that 
the  plan  is  favorable  to  his  own  national  cause. 
We  believe  that  the  plan,  if  carried  out,  would, 
while  thwarting  short-sighted  national  selfishness, 
tend  to  bring  ultimate  good  to  all  lands — the  gen- 
uine and  permanent  benefit  which  depends  on  the 
welfare  of  the  family  of  nations  as  a  whole.  Among 
those  working  for  the  establishment  of  the  inter- 
national commission  are  people  of  various  national 
sympathies.  Probably  there  is  no  one  working  for 
the  establishment  of  the  international  commission 
who  has  not  a  personal  opinion  as  to  which  side 
on  the  whole  represents  the  cause  of  right.  We 
137 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

feel,  however,  that  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
sincerity  of  the  belligerents,  the  responsibility  of 
the  war,  and  the  attitude  which  the  various  nations 
will  take  in  the  settlement  need  not  prevent  us  from 
working  together  provided  that  we  are  agreed  in 
our  desire  for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
peace  based  on  principles  of  international  right- 
eousness." 

The  Mediatory  Commission  of  Neutrals 

After  the  return  of  Miss  Jane  Addams  from 
Europe  the  following  resolutions  were  made  public 
by  a  committee  in  New  York  and  Chicago : 

"Whereas:  The  outcome  of  recent  missions  to 
the  governments  of  the  warring  nations  warranted 
the  belief  that,  while  the  nations  at  war  are  not 
willing  themselves  to  begin  negotiations  or  even 
signify  a  desire  to  do  so,  lest  it  be  interpreted  as 
a  sign  of  weakness  and  place  them  at  a  disadvan- 
tage in  the  final  peace  settlement,  there  are,  never- 
theless, in  each  of  the  warring  nations  civil  officials 
and  other  citizens  who  would  welcome  affirmative 
138 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

action  by  a  neutral  agency  to  bring  about  a  peace 
based  on  international  justice; 

"Be  it  resolved:  That  we  urge  the  appointment 
of  an  international  commission,  drawn  from  the 
neutral  nations  of  Europe  as  well  as  the  United 
States,  which  shall  explore  the  issues  involved  in 
the  present  struggle  and  on  the  basis  of  its  find- 
ings submit  propositions  to  the  belligerent  nations, 
in  the  hope  that  such  effort  will  not  only  clear  the 
ground  for  final  peace  negotiations,  but  also  in- 
fluence such  terms  of  settlement  as  will  make  for 
a  constructive  and  lasting  peace. 

"We  believe  that  through  some  such  effort  on 
the  part  of  neutrals,  carried  on  continuously  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  war,  the  European  con- 
flict can  be  ended  by  negotiation  rather  than  by 
exhaustion,  and  in  a  manner  that  will  not  per- 
petuate the  mistaken  ideas  of  international  rela- 
tionships that  have  brought  on  the  present  conflict. 

"Because  of  the  mixed  population  of  the  United 
States,  its  size,  and  its  geographical  isolation,  the 
American  members  for  such  a  commission  should 
139 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

first  be  appointed  and  should  ask  representatives 
of  the  neutral  nations  of  Europe,  similarly  ap- 
pointed and  approved,  to  confer  with  them.  These 
should  constitute  an  informal  commission  which 
should  act  continuously  and  evolve  tentative  pro- 
posals, submitting  them  to  the  various  govern- 
ments in  the  unalterable  conviction  that  some  pro- 
posal will  ultimately  be  found  that  will  afford  a 
practicable  basis  for  actual  peace  negotiations. 

"The  American  citizens  selected  for  this  mission, 
while  having  the  approval  of  President  Wilson, 
should  in  no  case  be  authorized  to  commit  the  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  government  to  any  prop- 
osition which  the  commission  should  put  forward." 

The  reasons  against  an  official  commission  and 
the  justification  of  the  plan  proposed  are  thus  set 
forth  by  Mr.  Louis  P.  Lochner  (San  Francisco  Ex- 
aminer, October  3,  1915) : 

"A  conference  of  all  neutrals  would  make  an 
unwieldy  body  and  one  in  which  there  might  be 
many  reactionary  tendencies  represented,  which 
might  defeat  the  very  purpose  of  such  a  confer- 
ence; that  an  official  gathering  would  be  bound 
140 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

by  conventionalities  and  diplomatic  usages  of  the 
past,  while  the  present  situation  demands  forward- 
looking,  constructive  action;  that  any  commission, 
however  appointed,  would  probably  be  rebuffed  at 
first,  and  that  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
responsible  for  the  'honor'  of  the  country,  could 
not  risk  the  eventuality  of  even  a  temporary  failure. 

"The  first  approach  to  the  situation  must  prob- 
ably be  non-governmental.  A  commission  of  neu- 
trals, such  as  is  proposed,  would  perhaps  work  out 
somewhat  in  the  following  manner : 

"The  men  chosen  must  be  of  broad  human  expe- 
rience, coming  from  fields  of  work  inherently  in- 
ternational in  character — such  as  commerce,  labor, 
science,  religion — men  who  will  command  respect 
at  home  and  abroad,  but  who  at  the  same  time  are 
ready  to  enter  upon  their  duties  with  the  full  ex- 
pectation of  seeming  to  labor  fruitlessly  at  first, 
much  as  the  arbitrators  in  a  labor  strike  are  at  first 
rebuffed  again  and  again  by  both  sides,  until  finally 
some  little  point,  to  which  both  sides  agree,  is  the 
entering  wedge  for  negotiations  leading  to  a  com- 
plete settlement. 

141 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

"These  men,  chosen  from  among  our  American 
citizens,  should  ask  representatives  of  the  neutral 
nations  of  Europe,  similarly  appointed  and  ap- 
proved, to  confer  with  them. 

"At  first  they  would  probably  be  ignored  by  the 
belligerent  press.  During  that  time  they  would 
merely  study  and  explore  the  issues  involved.  But 
let  us  not  forget  that  in  each  of  the  warring  coun- 
tries there  are  tremendous  popular  currents  at  work 
demanding  an  early  peace. 

"They  have  not  been  very  successful  thus  far, 
because  there  was  no  concrete  proposal  to  which 
they  could  direct  the  attention  of  their  govern- 
ments. They  were  denounced  as  'peace-prattlers,' 
as  'anti-patriots,'  and  when  they  became  too  ag- 
gressive, were  raided  by  the  police,  as  happened 
a  few  days  ago  in  the  case  of  the  Vaterland  Neues 
Bund,  of  Germany,  an  organization  which  numbers 
among  its  members  some  of  the  best  minds  of  the 
empire. 

"But  once  such  an  international  commission  of 
neutrals  were  in  session,  these  democratic  currents 
could  reassert  themselves  with  renewed  force.  How- 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

ever  stringent  the  censorship,  we  have  abundant 
proof  that  news,  nevertheless,  keeps  filtering 
through.  What  excuse  could  a  government  offer 
these  internal  critics  for  refusal  to  assent  if  an 
unofficial  commission  were  to  ask  that  a  man  of 
international  experience,  say  like  Herr  Ballin,  di- 
rector-general of  the  Hamburg- American  line,  and 
without  committing  his  government,  state  what,  in 
his  opinion,  would  be  a  method  of  approach  that 
might  be  satisfactory  to  Germany? 

"The  bare,  though  lamentable,  fact  of  the  pres- 
ent situation  is  that  there  is  absolutely  no  clearing- 
house or  central  agency  through  which  there  can 
be  any  interchange  of  ideas  between  the  belliger- 
ents. Such  a  commission,  if  it  did  nothing  else, 
would  first  of  all  become  a  means  of  contact. 

"After  exploring  the  issues,  then ;  after  summon- 
ing to  its  councils  men  of  similar  high  standing  to 
represent  the  belligerents  unofficially;  after  work- 
ing out  various  methods  of  approach  that  would 
as  far  as  possible  harmonize  the  conflicting  claims 
and  counter-claims;  such  a  commission  could  then 
unofficially  sound  the  governments  themselves  with 
143 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

some  such  proposal  as  this :  'Will  you  agree  to 
adopt  or  even  consider  the  accompanying  proposi- 
tions, or  any  phases  of  them,  as  a  basis  of  peace, 
if  and  when  the  governments  of  the  other  warring 
powers  will  agree  to  do  likewise?' 

"In  short,  the  unofficial  commission  would  act  up 
to  the  time  that  some  actual  basis  were  found  for 
official  action — at  which  time  the  governments  them- 
selves, through  their  regular  channels,  would  as- 
sume negotiations. 

"But  even  supposing  that  the  commission  made 
no  impression  whatever  upon  the  warring  govern- 
ments, that  all  its  efforts  to  bring  the  belligerents 
together  failed.  Still  it  would  have  tremendous 
value.  For,  even  accepting  for  the  moment  the 
fallacious  theory  of  'a  fight  to  a  finish,'  the  war 
can  not  go  on  forever,  and  sooner  or  later  negotia- 
tions must,  after  all,  take  the  place  of  military  ac- 
tion. When  these  negotiations  begin,  there  will  be 
more  need  than  ever  of  wisdom  and  constructive 
statesmanship  to  prevent  a  settlement  along  the 
lines  that  will  merely  mean  the  perpetuation  of  the 
conditions  that  led  to  the  present  war.  A  con- 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

structive  peace  program  worked  out  by  the  com- 
mission proposed  could  not  but  be  of  far-reaching 
influence  upon  the  men  assembled  around  the  green 
table.  Students  of  The  Hague  conference  will  re- 
member how  William  T.  Stead,  though  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  conference,  virtually  became  its  directing 
head  through  his  publication  of  a  daily  news  sheet 
that  told  the  diplomats  assembled  how  to  proceed. 
"The  labor,  peace,  and  woman's  organizations 
are  already  preparing  to  meet  at  the  same  time 
and  place  with  the  conference  of  diplomats  to  bring 
the  pressure  of  public  opinion  to  bear  upon  the 
peace  settlement  negotiations.  The  conclusions  of 
such  a  deliberative  commission  as  above  described 
would  probably  be  accepted  by  these  bodies  as  a 
basis  for  common  action.  It  is  hard  to  foresee  how 
such  united  action  would  not  have  profound  in- 
fluence upon  the  peace  deliberations." 

The  International  Committee  of  Women 

The  following  statement  from  the  International 
Committee  of  Women  for  Permanent  Peace  was 
issued  in  New  York  and  Amsterdam  on  October 

15,1915: 

145 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

"That  the  nations  now  engaged  in  war  would 
look  without  disfavor  upon  a  conference  of  the 
neutral  nations  as  a  possible  medium  for  the  set- 
tlement of  the  conflict,  and  that  the  neutral  na- 
tions of  Europe  are  prepared  for  such  a  conference 
provided  they  can  get  the  co-operation  of  the 
United  States,  is  declared  in  a  public  statement 
issued  by  the  International  Committee  of  Women 
for  Permanent  Peace. 

"The  International  Congress  of  Women,  which 
met  at  The  Hague  last  April,  appointed  two  groups 
of  envoys,  one  to  the  belligerent  governments  and 
to  Holland  and  Switzerland;  the  other  to  Russia 
and  the  Scandinavian  countries.  The  reports  of 
these  embassies  form  the  basis  for  the  announce- 
ment issued  to-day  here  and  in  Amsterdam. 

"In  their  joint  report  the  leading  members  of 
these  two  delegations  unite  in  stating  that  the  evi- 
dence and  assurances  given  them  have  convinced 
them  that  the  belligerents  would  not  consider  such 
a  conference  unfriendly,  and  that  the  neutrals 
would  not  be  unwilling  to  act,  if  first  assured  of 
American  co-operation. 

146 


WOMEN   AND   WAR 

"The  three  foreign  delegates  came  to  the  United 
States  in  September,  and  the  executive  committee 
since  then  has  been  in  conference  with  the  American 
delegates. 

"The  envoys  were  received  by  the  following, 
among  others : 

"Prime  Minister  Asquith  and  Foreign  Minister 
Sir  Edward  Grey,  in  London;  Reichskanzler  von 
Bethmann-Hollweg  and  Foreign  Minister  von  Ja- 
gow,  in  Berlin ;  Prime  Minister  Stuergkh,  Foreign 
Minister  Burian,  in  Vienna;  Prime  Minister  Tisza, 
in  Budapest;  Prime  Minister  Salandra  and  For- 
eign Minister  Sonnino,  in  Rome;  Prime  Minister 
Vivian!  and  Foreign  Minister  Delcasse,  in  Paris; 
Foreign  Minister  d' Avignon,  in  Havre;  Foreign 
Minister  Sasonoff ,  in  Petrograd. 

"And  by  the  following  representatives  of  neutral 
governments : 

"Prime  Minister  Cort  van  der  Linden  and  For- 
eign Minister  Loudon,  in  The  Hague ;  Prime  Min- 
ister Zahle  and  Foreign  Minister  Scavenius,  in  Co- 
penhagen ;  King  Haakon,  Prime  Minister  Knudsen, 
Foreign  Minister  Ihlen,  and  by  Messrs.  Loevland, 
147 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Aarstad,  Castberg  and  Jahren,  the  four  presidents 
of  the  Storthing,  in  Christiania ;  Foreign  Minister 
Wallenberg,  in  Stockholm;  President  Motta  and 
Foreign  Minister  Hoffman,  in  Berne;  President 
Wilson  and  Secretary  of  State  Lansing,  in  Wash- 
ington. 

"While  in  Rome,  the  delegation  went  unofficially 
— that  is  to  say,  without  a  mandate  from  the  Con- 
gress— to  an  audience  with  the  Pope  and  the  Car- 
dinal Secretary  of  State. 

"The  signers  of  the  statement  were  themselves 
leading  members  of  the  two  groups  of  envoys." 

To  the  end  indicated  above  the  following  mani- 
festo was  issued  by  envoys  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Women  at  The  Hague  to  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe  and  the  president  of  the  United 
States : 

"Here  in  America,  on  neutral  soil,  far  removed 
from  the  stress  of  the  conflict,  we,  envoys  to  the 
governments  from  the  International  Congress  of 
Women  at  The  Hague,  have  come  together  to  can- 
vass the  results  of  our  missions.  We  put  forth  this 
statement  as  our  united  and  deliberate  conclusions. 
US 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

"At  a  time  when  the  foreign  offices  of  the  great 
belligerents  have  been  barred  to  each  other,  and 
the  public  mind  of  Europe  has  been  fixed  on  the 
war  offices  for  leadership,  we  have  gone  from  cap- 
ital to  capital  and  conferred  with  the  civil  govern- 
ments. 

"Our  mission  was  to  place  before  belligerent  and 
neutral  alike  the  resolutions  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Women  held  at  The  Hague  in  April; 
especially  to  place  before  them  the  definite  method 
of  a  conference  of  neutral  nations  as  an  agency 
of  continuous  mediation  for  the  settlement  of  the 
war. 

"To  carry  out  this  mission  two  delegations  were 
appointed,  which  included  women  of  Great  Britain, 
Hungary,  Italy,  the  Netherlands,  Sweden  and  the 
United  States.  One  or  other  of  these  delegations 
was  received  by  the  governments  in  fourteen  cap- 
itals— Berlin,  Berne,  Budapest,  Christiania,  Copen- 
hagen, The  Hague,  Havre  (Belgian  government), 
London,  Paris,  Petrograd,  Rome,  Stockholm,  Vi- 
enna and  Washington.  We  were  received  by  the 
prime  ministers  and  foreign  ministers  of  the  pow- 
149 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

ers,  by  the  king  of  Norway,  by  the  presidents  of 
Switzerland  and  of  the  United  States,  by  the  Pope 
and  the  Cardinal  Secretary  of  State.  In  many  cap- 
itals more  than  one  audience  was  given,  not  merely 
to  present  our  resolutions,  but  for  a  thorough  dis- 
cussion. In  addition  to  the  thirty-five  govern- 
mental visits  we  met — everywhere — members  of 
parliaments  and  other  leaders  of  public  opinion. 

"We  heard  much  the  same  words  spoken  in 
Downing  Street  as  those  spoken  in  Wilhelmstrasse, 
in  Vienna  as  in  Petrograd,  in  Budapest  as  in  Havre, 
where  the  Belgians  have  their  temporary  govern- 
ment. 

"Our  visits  to  the  war  capitals  convinced  us  that 
the  belligerent  governments  would  not  be  opposed 
to  a  conference  of  neutral  nations;  that  while  the 
belligerents  have  rejected  offers  of  mediation  by 
single  neutral  nations,  and  while  no  belligerent 
could  ask  for  mediation,  the  creation  of  a  continu- 
ous conference  of  neutral  nations  might  provide 
the  machinery  which  would  lead  to  peace.  We 
found  that  the  neutrals,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
concerned  lest  calling  such  a  conference  might  be 
150 


WOMEN    AND   WAR 

considered  inopportune  by  one  or  other  of  the  bel- 
ligerents. Here  our  information  from  the  bellig- 
erents themselves  gave  assurance  that  such  initiative 
would  not  be  resented.  'My  country  would  not  find 
anything  unfriendly  in  such  action  by  the  neu- 
trals,' was  the  assurance  given  us  by  the  foreign 
minister  of  one  of  the  great  belligerents.  'My 
government  would  place  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
its  institution,'  said  the  minister  of  an  opposing 
nation.  'What  are  the  neutrals  waiting  for?'  said 
a  third,  whose  name  ranks  high,  not  only  in  his 
rown  country,  but  all  over  the  world. 

"It  remained  to  put  this  clarifying  intelligence 
before  the  neutral  countries.  As  a  result  the  plan 
of  starting  mediation  through  the  agency  of  a  con- 
tinuous conference  of  the  neutral  nations  is  to-day 
being  seriously  discussed  alike  in  the  cabinets  of 
the  belligerent  and  neutral  countries  of  Europe  and 
in  the  press  of  both. 

"We  are  in  a  position  to  quote  some  of  the  ex- 
pressions of  men  high  in  the  councils  of  the  great 
nations  as  to  the  feasibility  of  the  plan.  'You  are 
right,'  said  one  minister,  'that  it  would  be  of  the 
151 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

greatest  importance  to  finish  the  fight  by  early  ne- 
gotiation rather  than  by  further  military  efforts, 
which  would  result  in  more  and  more  destruction 
and  irreparable  loss.'  'Yours  is  the  sanest  pro- 
posal that  has  been  brought  to  this  office  in  the 
last  six  months,'  said  the  prime  minister  of  one  of 
the  larger  countries. 

"We  were  also  in  position  to  canvass  the  objec- 
tions that  have  been  made  to  the  proposal,  testing 
it  out  severely  in  the  judgment  of  those  in  the 
midst  of  the  European  conflict.  It  has  been  ar- 
gued that  it  is*  not  the  time  at  present  to  start 
such  a  process  of  negotiation,  and  that  no  step 
should  be  taken  until  one  or  other  party  has  a  vic- 
tory, or  at  least  until  some  new  military  balance 
is  struck.  The  answer  we  bring  is  that  every  de- 
lay makes  more  difficult  the  beginning  of  negotia- 
tions, more  nations  become  involved,  and  the  situ- 
ation becomes  more  complicated ;  that  when  at  times 
in  the  course  of  the  war  such  a  balance  was  struck, 
the  neutrals  were  unprepared  to  act.  The  oppor- 
tunity passed.  For  the  forces  of  peace  to  be  un- 
152 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

prepared  when  the  hour  comes  is  as  irretrievable 
as  for  a  military  leader  to  be  unready. 

"It  has  been  argued  that  for  such  a  conference 
to  be  called  at  any  time  when  one  side  has  met 
with  some  military  advantage  would  be  to  favor 
that  side.  The  answer  we  bring  is  that  the  pro- 
posed conference  would  start  mediation  at  a  higher 
level  than  that  of  military  advantage.  As  to  the 
actual  military  situation,  however,  we  quote  a  re- 
mark made  to  us  by  a  foreign  minister  of  one  of 
the  belligerent  powers.  'Neither  side  is  to-day 
strong  enough  to  dictate  terms,  and  neither  side 
is  so  weakened  that  it  has  to  accept  humiliating 
terms.' 

"It  has  been  suggested  that  such  a  conference 
would  bind  the  neutral  governments  co-operating 
in  it.  The  answer  we  bring  is  that,  as  proposed, 
such  a  conference  should  consist  of  the  ablest  per- 
sons of  the  neutral  countries,  assigned,  not  to 
problems  of  their  own  governments,  but  to  the 
common  service  of  a  supreme  crisis.  The  situation 
calls  for  a  conference  cast  in  a  new  and  larger 
153 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

mould  than  those  of  conventional  diplomacy,  the 
governments  sending  to  it  persons  drawn  from  so- 
cial, economic  and  scientific  fields  who  have  had 
genuine  international  experience. 

"As  women,  it  was  possible  for  us,  from  bellig- 
erent and  neutral  nations  alike,  to  meet  in  the  midst 
of  war  and  to  carry  forward  an  interchange  of 
question  and  answer  between  capitals  which  were 
barred  to  each  other.  It  is  now  our  duty  to  make 
articulate  our  convictions.  We  have  been  con- 
vinced that  the  governments  of  the  belligerent  na- 
tions would  not  be  hostile  to  the  institution  of  such 
a  common  channel  for  good  offices ;  that  the  govern- 
ments of  the  European  neutrals  we  visited  stand 
ready  to  co-operate  with  others  in  mediation.  Re- 
viewing the  situation,  we  believe  that  of  the  five 
European  neutral  nations  visited,  three  are  ready 
to  join  in  such  a  conference,  and  that  two  are  de- 
liberating the  calling  of  such  a  conference.  Of 
the  intention  of  the  United  States  we  have  as  yet 
no  evidence. 

"We  are  but  the  conveyors  of  evidence  which 
is  a  challenge  to  action  by  the  neutral  governments 
154 


WOMEN   AND   WAR 

visited — by  Denmark,  Holland,  Norway,  Sweden, 
Switzerland  and  the  United  States.  We  in  turn 
bear  evidence  of  a  rising  desire  and  intention  of 
vast  companies  of  people  in  the  neutral  countries 
to  turn  a  barren  disinterestedness  into  an  active 
good-will.  In  Sweden,  for  example,  more  than  four 
hundred  meetings  were  held  in  one  day  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  calling  on  the  government 
to  act. 

"The  excruciating  burden  of  responsibility  for 
the  hopeless  continuance  of  this  war  no  longer  rests 
on  the  will  of  the  belligerent  nations  alone.  It 
rests  also  on  the  will  of  those  neutral  governments 
and  people  who  have  been  spared  its  shock  but 
can  not,  if  they  would,  absolve  themselves  from 
their  full  share  of  responsibility  for  the  continu- 
ance of  war. 

"Signed  by 

"ALLETTA  JACOBS  [Holland]. 

"CHRYSTAL  MACMILL.AN  [Gireat  Britain]. 

"RosiKA   SCHWIMMER    [Austro-Hungary]. 

"EMILY  G.  BALCH  [United  States]. 

"JANE  ADDAMS  [United  States]." 
155 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

Constructive  Peace 

The  Women's  Movement  for  Constructive  Peace, 
directed  by  Mrs.  F.  W.  Pethick-Lawrence,  of  Lon- 
don, endeavors  to  organize  public  opinion  and  to 
bring  pressure  on  the  governments  of  the  world  to- 
ward certain  ends.  Those  especially  distinctive  arc 
the  suffrage  of  women,  a  league  of  law-abiding 
nations  for  mutual  defense  and  a  change  in  the 
attitude  of  future  Hague  conferences  as  to  laws 
of  war.  The  regulation  of  war  hitherto  attempted 
at  The  Hague  is  "based  on  a  pernicious  principle 
in  that  it  treats  as  natural  the  existence  of  war, 
and  only  aims  to  prune  off  some  features  regarded 
as  objectionable,  instead  of  trying  to  make  war 
impossible." 

This  again  strikes  at  the  heart  of  the  evil.  But 
it  is  questionable  whether  attempts  to  humanize 
war,  however  unsuccessful  or  however  disregarded 
by  generals  bent  solely  on  victory,  have  ever  stood 
in  the  way  of  any  direct  moves  against  war.  Men 
have  tried  to  humanize  war,  when  they  could  attack 
it  in  no  other  fashion.  Those  who  defend  war  ap- 
156 


WOMEN    AND    WAR 

prove  all  its  brutalities.  In  their  eyes  war  consists 
in  mutual  destruction  of  nations  and  in  its  applica- 
tion it  "knows  no  bounds."  The  more  intolerable 
its  enormities  the  sooner  will  the  weaker  yield  to 
the  strong;  the  sooner  will  be  the  advent  of  peace. 
But  this  method  of  frightfulness  has  never  been 
potent  to  bring  real  peace.  It  culminates  in  long 
enduring  hate.  Moreover,  to  defend  it  is  to  assume 
that  the  stronger  nation  is  in  the  right,  which,  in 
history,  has  been  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

The  School  Peace  League 

The  American  School  Peace  League,  of  which 
Mrs.  Fannie  Fern  Andrews  is  secretary,  is  pri- 
marily composed  of  teachers  in  public  schools  of 
the  United  States.  Its  first  aim  is  the  right  in- 
struction  of  school  children  in  national  and  inter- 
national matters.  Its  published  platform  demands 
a  "Concert  of  Europe,"  based  on  some  principle  of 
democratic  representation.  "Nationality"  should 
be  respected,  and  humiliation  and  revenge  should 
be  erased  from  international  relations.  The 
League  demands  "limitation  of  armaments"  with 
abolition  of  private  profit  of  citizen  or  corporation. 
157 


CHAPTER  IV 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  CONGRESSES 

National  Education  Association 

THE  National  Education  Association  of  the 
United  States  in  its  world  congress  in  Oak- 
land, California,  after  an  elaborate  preamble,  put 
itself  on  record  as  follows: 

"1.  The  Association  looks  upon  the  war  now 
ravaging  the  continent  of  Europe  as  a  tragedy 
having  no  parallel  in  history.  This  war  is  work- 
ing havoc  among  the  best  racial  elements  in  all 
nations  concerned,  exhausting  the  near  future, 
bringing  impoverishment  to  the  race  and  throwing 
an  intolerable  burden  of  sorrow  and  misery  on 
women  and  children.  The  Association  expresses 
the  fervent  hope  that  the  measures  adopted  at  the 
peace  settlement  conference  will  be  founded  on  jus- 
tice, and  will  thereby  break  down  militarism  and  free 
the  world  from  the  fear  of  another  calamity  like 
the  present.  The  Association  heartily  indorses  the 
158 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    CONGRESSES 

policy  of  the  president  of  the  United  States  con- 
cerning both  the  European  and  the  Mexican  sit- 
uations. It  rejoices  in  his  eminent  services  to  the 
cause  of  peace,  which  is  the  cause  of  law.  To 
the  president  of  the  United  States  is  primarily  due 
the  fact  that  this  republic  has  remained  law-abid- 
ing, despite  currents  of  fear,  hate  and  excitement, 
and  stands  firm  on  the  only  basis  on  which  civiliza- 
tion can  be  restored  or  peace  maintained — the  foun- 
dation of  law. 

"2.  The  Association  deplores  any  attempt  to 
militarize  this  country.  It  again  declares  against 
the  establishment  of  compulsory  military  training 
in  the  schools  on  the  ground  that  this  is  reaction- 
ary and  inconsistent  with  American  ideals  and 
standards.  The  Association  expresses  its  approval 
of  the  policy  of  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America  in 
keeping  their  useful  work  free  from  connection 
with  military  affairs. 

"3.    The  Association  believes  that  the  promotion 

of  international  relationships  in  education,  science, 

art,  industry  and  social  service  is  of  fundamental 

importance,  and  that  these  can  best  be  worked  out 

159 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

by  a  co-ordination  of  the  organized  forces  of  the 
civilized  world.  To  this  end  international  associa- 
tions should  have  affiliated  national  organizations, 
in  each  case  with  a  central  body  having  delegates 
from  each  affiliated  nation.  In  the  interest  of  per- 
manent peace  and  of  world  research  a  reorganiza- 
tion of  international  organizations  should  follow 
the  establishment  of  peace  in  Europe.  The  United 
States,  with  other  neutral  nations,  has  a  great  duty 
to  perform  in  this  work  of  reorganization. 

"4.  The  Association  feels  that  we  have  reached 
a  time  when  interdependence  and  mutual  under- 
standing should  create  their  proper  organs  of  ex- 
pression through  permanent  officials,  whose  duty 
would  be  to  report  to  their  home  governments  on 
the  work  and  progress  of  constructive  social  agen- 
cies in  the  country  of  residence.  The  presence  of 
military  and  naval  attaches  in  all  embassies  and  le- 
gations emphasizes  the  least  desirable  of  factors 
of  international  relations." 

The  Association  believes  that  the  constructive 
side  of  relations  among  nations  should  be  empha- 
sized, and  recommends  that  each  of  the  national 
160 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    CONGRESSES 

governments  which  have  participated  in  this  In- 
ternational Congress  on  Education  should  be  urged 
to  appoint  educational  attaches  as  well  to  their  le- 
gations and  embassies  in  foreign  countries. 

International  Peace  Congress 

The  following-  resolutions  were  adopted  at  the 
International  Peace  Congress  at  San  Francisco, 
October  13,  1915: 

"This  Congress  gratefully  recognizes  that  to 
the  president  of  the  United  States  is  largely  due 
the  fact  that  this  republic  has  remained  law-abid- 
ing, despite  currents  of  fear,  hate  and  excitement, 
and  that  it  stands  firm  on  the  only  basis  on  which 
civilization  can  be  restored  or  peace  maintained — 
the  foundation  of  law. 

"The  defense  of  the  republic  is  not  primarily  a 
matter  of  armies  and  navies,  but  it  lies  in  justice, 
conciliation  and  trust  in  international  law.  While 
we  do  not  urge  disarmament  under  present  condi- 
tions, we  are  opposed  to  the  current  wide-spread 
demand  for  costly  preparation  against  hypothetic 
dangers.  If  exhausted  Europe  is  an  increased  men- 
161 


WAYS   TO   LASTING   PEACE 

ace  to  America,  it  must  likewise  be  so  to  other  neu- 
trals, while  armament  expansion  on  our  part  in- 
cites similar  action  in  the  nations  of  South  America 
and  Asia. 

"The  hoped-for  leadership  of  America  in  the 
achievement  of  a  new  world  order  would  be  defeated 
by  her  surrender  to  the  belief  that  the  lesson  of 
the  great  war  is  that  she  should  seriously  enter 
further  into  the  old  world  competition  in  armament, 
for,  in  the  words  of  Washington,  'overgrown  mili- 
tary establishments  are,  under  any  form  of  govern- 
ment, inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty.' 

"This  Congress  looks  with  apprehension  on  the 
presence  in  advisory  boards  of  the  United  States 
government  of  men  personally  interested  in  the 
preparation,  manufacture  or  sale  of  munitions  of 
war. 

"The  Congress  further  questions  the  propriety 
of  appointing  on  congressional  committees  men  who 
are  or  who  have  been  concerned  with  the  manu- 
facture or  trade  in  war  materials. 

"Meeting  in  this  International  Exposition,  which 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    CONGRESSES 

stands  as  a  great  triumph  of  peace,  the  Congress 
brings  this  indictment  against  war : 

"The  great  war  is  bleeding  Europe  white.  It 
is  working  havoc  without  parallel  in  the  best  ra- 
cial elements  in  all  nations  concerned,  thereby  ex- 
hausting the  near  future  and  bringing  subsequent 
impoverishment,  physical  and  mental,  to  the  race. 

"An  intolerable  burden  of  sorrow  and  misery  is 
thrown  on  the  women  and  children  in  the  various 
nations — those  who  have  no  part  in  bringing  on 
the  war  and  no  interests  to  be  served  by  it. 

"No  possible  gain,  economic  or  political  (the  in- 
tegrity of  invaded  territory  being  assured),  can 
compensate  any  nation  for  the  loss,  distress  and 
misery  involved  in  this  war  and  aggravated  by 
every  day  of  its  continuance. 

"No  probability  exists  that  military  operations 
in  any  quarter,  on  land  or  sea,  can  of  themselves 
bring  the  war  to  an  end. 

"A  sweeping  victory  on  either  side,  even  if  at- 
tainable, would  not  contribute  to  the  solution  of 
the  problems  of  Europe,  being  sure  to  leave  an  in- 
creasing legacy  of  hate  with  the  seeds  of  future 

wars. 

163 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

"The  outcome  of  recent  missions  to  the  govern- 
ments of  the  warring  nations  warrants  the  belief 
that,  while  the  nations  at  war  are  not  willing  them- 
selves to  begin  negotiations  or  even  signify  a  desire 
to  do  so,  lest  it  be  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  weak- 
ness and  place  them  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  final 
peace  settlement,  there  is,  nevertheless,  abundant 
evidence  that  those  charged  with  the  administration 
of  the  foreign  policies  of  these  nations  would  wel- 
come, or  at  least  not  oppose,  affirmative  action  by 
a  neutral  agency  to  bring  about  a  peace  based  on 
international  justice. 

"This  Congress  therefore  respectfully  urges  the 
president  of  the  United  States  to  co-operate  with 
other  neutral  governments  in  calling  a  conference 
of  neutral  nations,  which  would  constitute  a  vol- 
untary court  of  continuous  mediation,  would  invite 
suggestions  of  settlement  from  each  of  the  warring 
nations,  and  in  any  case  submit  to  all  of  them  si- 
multaneously reasonable  proposals  as  a  basis  for 
peace. 

"The  numerous  programs  for  a  constructive  and 
lasting  peace,  formulated  since  the  beginning  of 
164 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    CONGRESSES 

the  war  by  national  and  international  conferences 
prove  a  deep-seated  and  universal  revulsion  against 
the  forces  and  ideals  that  have  brought  on  the  pres- 
ent conflict. 

"This  popular  demand  for  constructive  peace, 
if  directed  into  definite  channels,  will  exert  a  pro- 
found influence  on  the  terms  of  peace. 

"This  Congress  rejoices  that  the  international 
labor,  women's  and  other  movements  are  preparing 
for  international  meetings  to  be  held  at  the  same 
time  and  place  as  the  conference  of  powers  which 
shall  arrange  the  terms  of  peace.  Provision  should 
be  made  by  which  other  bodies,  too,  shall  be  repre- 
sented in  a  similar  manner. 

"To  this  end  the  Congress  advocates  the  imme- 
diate constitution  of  a  joint  committee  of  repre- 
sentatives of  all  forces  interested  in  the  furtherance 
of  a  lasting  peace  along  the  lines  outlined  by  the 
Emergency  Peace  Federation  of  Chicago,  which 
committee  shall  establish  a  central  clearing-house 
and  insure  a  constant  and  persistent  campaign  of 
education  and  action,  national  and  international. 

"The  program  of  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace, 
165 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

lately  adopted  in  Philadelphia,  represents  a  con- 
structive plan  to  prevent  international  war  among 
civilized  nations. 

"With  the  members  of  the  League,  we  believe 
it  to  be  desirable  for  the  United  States  to  enter 
a  real  partnership  of  nations  based  on  equal 
rights  for  all  and  established  and  enforced  by  a 
common  will.  Such  a  league  should  bind  the  sig- 
natories substantially  to  the  following,  which,  with 
slight  alterations,  is  identical  with  the  program  of 
the  League  to  Enforce  Peace : 

"First — All  justiciable  questions  arising  between 
the  signatory  powers,  not  settled  by  negotiation, 
shall,  subject  to  the  limitations  of  treaties,  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  judicial  tribunal  for  hearing  and  judg- 
ment, both  upon  the  merits  and  upon  any  issue  as 
to  its  jurisdiction  of  the  question. 

"Second — All  other  questions  arising  between 
the  signatories  and  not  settled  by  negotiation,  shall 
be  submitted  to  a  council  of  conciliation  for  hear- 
ing, consideration  and  recommendation. 

"Third — The  signatory  powers  shall  jointly  use 
166 


RESOLUTIONS    OF   CONGRESSES 

first,  economic  pressure  and  later,  If  necessary,  in- 
ternational police  force,  against  any  one  of  their 
number  that  goes  to  war,  or  commits  acts  of  hos- 
tility, against  another  of  the  signatories  before 
any  question  arising  shall  be  submitted  as  provided 
in  the  foregoing. 

"Fourth — Conferences  between  the  signatory 
powers  shall  be  held  from  time  to  time  to  formulate 
and  codify  rules  of  international  law,  which,  unless 
some  signatory  shall  signify  its  dissent  within  a 
stated  period,  shall  thereafter  govern  in  the  deci- 
sions of  the  judicial  tribunal  above  mentioned. 

"This  Congress  strongly  urges  the  calling  of 
the  third  Hague  conference  to  follow  as  soon  as 
possible  the  conclusion  of  the  present  war.  It  fur- 
ther urges  that  the  delegates  to  such  conference 
represent  the  civil  and  not  the  military  authority 
of  their  respective  countries. 

"This  Congress  expresses  its  cordial  approval 
of  the  policy  for  restoring  order  in  Mexico  by  the 
co-operation  with  our  government  of  other  Amer- 
ican republics.  This  has  tended  to  allay  the  fears 
167 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

of  the  peoples  of  South  America  regarding  the 
policy  of  the  United  States.  We  believe  that  fear 
and  force  can  not  bring  respect,  and  that  the  moral 
influence  of  a  nation  tends  to  fail  as  its  military 
equipment  increases. 

"This  Congress  believes  that  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine should  merge  in  a  League  of  Peace  of  the 
Temperate  Americas,  which  should  effectively  put 
an  end  to  civil  and  international  war  on  this  con- 
tinent. 

"This  body  appeals  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  to  adopt  an  immigration  policy  based 
on  the  just  and  equitable  treatment  of  all  races 
— a  policy  that  will  grant  the  rights  of  citizenship 
regardless  of  race  or  nationality;  and  to  provide 
that  all  aliens  should  be  under  the  special  protec- 
tion of  the  national  government. 

"The  combined  influence  of  the  women  of  all 
countries  is  one  of  the  most  effective  forces  in  op- 
position to  war.  We  recognize  that  this  influence 
can  not  be  fully  exerted  except  through  the  ade- 
quate recognition  of  their  social  and  political  rights. 

"This  Congress  believes  that  universities  and 
168 


RESOLUTIONS  OF  CONGRESSES 

colleges  should  undertake  especial  research  and 
Instruction  in  international  relations  and  the  san- 
itation of  international  politics  and  diplomacy  by 
the  application  of  science  to  the  higher  relations 
of  men. 

"This  Congress  deplores  every  attempt  to  mili- 
tarize this  country.  It  declares  against  the  estab- 
lishment of  military  training  in  the  schools,  on  the 
ground  that  this  is  reactionary  and  inconsistent 
with  American  ideals  and  standards,  and  leading 
toward  the  greatest  burden  yet  borne  by  a  civilized 
nation,  that  of  military  conscription — a  condition 
incompatible  with  liberty. 

"Signed  by  the  committee : 

"DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  Chairman. 

"Louis  P.  LOCHNER,  Secretary. 

«H.  H.  BELT,. 

"SIDNEY  F.  GULICK. 

"HERBERT  S.  HOUSTON. 

"FREDERICK  LYNCH. 

"LuciA  AMES  MEAD. 

"ROBERT  C.  ROOT." 


169 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

The  Peace  Alliance  of  Australia 

The  Australian  Peace  Alliance  declares  for  ar- 
bitration, democratic  control  of  foreign  policy,  re- 
duction of  armaments,  and  nationalization  of  their 
manufacture,  the  organization  of  labor  unions 
against  war,  and  the  termination  of  the  present 
war  as  soon  as  may  be  on  the  following  terms : 

No  transfer  of  territory  without  the  affirmative 
vote  of  its  people;  no  treaty  or  undertaking  with- 
out the  open  consent  of  parliament;  the  influence 
of  Great  Britain  to  be  thrown  toward  an  interna- 
tional council  whose  deliberations  and  decisions 
shall  be  made  public.  Further  they  demand  a  dras- 
tic reduction  of  armament,  the  neutralization  of 
its  manufacture  and  the  prohibition  of  its  export. 
Finally,  they  urge  the  universal  abolition  of  con- 
scription or  compulsory  military  training. 

The  last  demand  few  other  societies  have  ven- 
tured to  make,  though  it  is  in  the  long  run  the 
most  important  of  all.  It  strikes  at  the  heart  of 
the  whole  war  system.  If  a  peaceful  nation  is  no- 
where menaced  by  a  "nation  in  arms,"  the  war 
170 


RESOLUTIONS    OF    CONGRESSES 

spirit  will  in  time  die  away.  The  system  of  con- 
scription is  the  tap-root  of  evil  in  Europe.  The 
domination  of  military  Prussia  over  scientific  and 
industrial  Germany  would  be  impossible  if  military 
service  were  not  a  universal  experience.  And  the 
final  purpose  of  prolonged  military  drill  is  not  war- 
efficiency  but  industrial  subserviency. 

The  Japanese  Peace  Society 

The  Peace  Society  of  Japan,  of  which  Count 
Okuma,  now  Premier,  is  president,  has  devoted  it- 
self mainly  to  bringing  about  harmonious  relations 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States.  Says 
Baron  Kanda,  one  of  the  leading  scholars  of  Tokyo, 
"The  rumors  of  misunderstanding  and  uneasiness 
we  hear  sometimes  are  but  ripples  on  the  surface. 
In  its  profound  depths,  the  Pacific  is  grandly  at 
rest." 

The  International  Union  of  Ethical  Societies 

The  International  Union  of  Ethical*  Societies,  of 
which  Gustav  Spiller,  of  London,  is  secretary,  lays 
absolute  stress  on  the  revival  and  the  respect  of 
171 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

international  law  with  the  reference  of  all  serious 
differences  to  an  international  tribunal  for  judicial 
settlement. 

The  European  Federation  for  Peace 

The  European  Federation,  of  which  the  secretary 
is  Nico  van  Suchtelen,  of  Blaricum,  Holland,  ex- 
pressly stands  for  national  morality.  It  is  con- 
vinced that  "the  relation  of  civilized  states  toward 
each  other  should  be  governed  by  the  same  laws 
of  morality  and  justice  as  social  life  in  the  na- 
tions individually."  It  is  moving  toward  a  bond 
of  union  among  those  states  which  respect  these 
principles  and  for  the  formation  of  a  public  opin- 
ion that  shall  demand  adhesion,  to  them. 


CHAPTER  V 

PEACE   MANIFESTOES 

The  Church  and  Peace 

THE  manifesto  of  the  Church  Peace  Union 
represents  the  attitude  of  the  American 
churches,  almost  unanimously  opposed  to  militar- 
ism. I  here  quote  it  in  full : 

"In  this  time  of  tumult,  when  more  than  half 
the  population  of  the  globe  is  involved  in  war,  the 
Church  of  God  should  counsel: 

"Moderation.  Partisanship  is  adding  fuel  to 
fires  of  passion  which  already  are  too  hot.  Cler- 
gymen should  allay  prejudice,  not  intensify  it. 
Each  of  the  warring  nations  believes  in  the  justice 
of  its  cause.  Their  disputes  are  of  long  standing, 
involving  all  the  governments  concerned,  and  their 
full  history  is  yet  to  be  written.  In  a  period  of 
such  tense  feeling,  it  is  not  easy  to  unravel  the 
tangled  skein  of  motives  and  events.  It  is  a  griev- 
ous thing  that  there  is  war  between  peoples  whom 
173 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

we  respect  and  count  our  friends.  In  this  calami- 
tous hour,  denunciation  of  either  side  assumes  a 
superhuman  knowledge  of  complex  policies  and 
purposes,  imperils  the  influence  of  our  government 
in  promoting  peace,  aggravates  a  quarrel  which 
we  should  help  to  abate,  creates  dissensions  among 
our  own  people,  inflames  a  war  spirit  in  America, 
and  gives  force  to  the  criticism  that  the  church 
has  abdicated  its  sacred  function  as  the  maker  of 
peace  and  concord. 

"Penitence.  We  should  realize  not  only  that 
each  of  the  warring  nations  has  helped  to  create 
the  conditions  of  which  the  war  is  a  tragic  expres- 
sion, but  that  these  conditions  characterize  Amer- 
icans as  well  as  Europeans.  We  are  quite  as  bel- 
ligerent in  temper  as  other  men.  We  should  con- 
demn the  causes  of  war;  but  we  should  look  for 
them  not  so  much  in  state  papers  as  in  the  fears 
and  prejudices  and  rivalries  which  are  common  to 
men  everywhere  except  as  they  are  influenced  by 
the  Divine  Spirit.  Our  own  freedom  from  militar- 
ism has  been  due  to  protecting  oceans  rather  than 
to  superior  virtue.  The  present  clamor  for  an 
174 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

armament  to  resist  a  possible  attack  is  prompted, 
not  by  peril,  but  by  the  disposition  to  echo  on  our 
side  of  the  sea  the  cries  which  have  been  heard  in 
Europe  for  years,  and  it  is  engendering  the  same 
suspicions  that  have  wrecked  the  relations  of  Ger- 
many and  Great  Britain.  Are  we  to  repeat  the 
policy  which  is  drenching  the  continent  with  blood? 
This  is  the  time  to  prepare,  not  for  war,  but  for 
peace. 

"Faith.  God  only  can  'speak  peace'  to  the  na- 
tions. He  alone  can  re-create  a  chaotic  world.  Ma- 
terialistic civilization  has  developed  mind  and  en- 
ergy rather  than  conscience.  The  peoples  whose 
universities  are  the  greatest,  whose  statesmen  and 
philosophers  the  most  famous,  whose  industrial 
achievements  the  most  advanced,  whose  armies  and 
navies  the  most  colossal,  are  the  very  ones  that  are 
fighting.  Modern  science  has  equipped  race  hatred 
with  deadlier  weapons  and  thus  increased  its  power 
for  ruin.  A  world  order  built  up  by  secular  edu- 
cation and  dependent  on  force  has  collapsed.  Chris- 
tianity has  not  failed;  but  nations  have  failed  to 
be  Christian.  The  ideas  underlying  this  war  spring 
175 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

from  a  savage  interpretation  of  life  and  directly 
contravene  the  teachings  of  Jesus.  The  paramount 
need,  therefore,  is  a  new  interpretation  in  the  light 
of  a  fresh  discovery  of  God  and  of  what  He  requires 
of  man.  This  need  transcends  questions  of  national 
policy  and  armament.  The  settlement  of  existing 
strife  awaits  its  fulfilment.  There  is  no  other  hope 
for  humanity.  The  task  is  stupendous;  but  'all 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.'  Have 
we  faith  to  believe,  faith  to  draw  boldly  upon  the 
undeveloped  resources  of  the  Church  in  God  for 
the  reconstruction  of  the  world? 

"Righteousness  —  international  righteousness. 
Religion  too  often  has  been  conceived  as  so  local 
and  personal  that  it  had  no  relation  to  national 
policies.  Men  in  their  corporate  capacity  as  a  state 
have  ignored  moral  laws  that  as  citizens  they  up- 
hold. The  time  has  come  to  insist  that  the  law 
of  the  jungle  should  be  replaced  by  the  law  of 
humanity;  that  there  is  no  double  standard  of 
ethics;  that  there  can  not  be  one  rule  for  individ- 
uals and  another  for  their  governments ;  that  de- 
ceiving others,  oppressing  the  weak,  stealing  ter- 
176 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

ritory,  destroying  property  and  murdering  rivals, 
acts  which  are  criminal  between  men,  are  no  less 
wrong  between  nations;  that  the  real  greatness  of 
a  people  lies  not  in  regiments  and  battleships  but 
in  justice  and  forbearance;  and  that  'righteousness 
exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  peo- 
ple.' 

"Brotherhood.  We  profess  to  believe  in  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man; 
that  'God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations.'  Why 
has  not  this  gospel  wrought  its  normal  work  among 
the  nations?  Why  are  men  trying  to  settle  by 
slaughter  what  can  be  settled  only  by  mutual  good- 
will? Because  they  have  not  accepted  the  implica- 
tions of  their  belief;  because  they  regard  one  an- 
other as  foes  rather  than  as  friends.  Clearly  then 
it  is  the  mission  of  the  churches  to  inculcate  the 
principles  of  mutual  respect  and  confidence,  to  make 
real  the  faith  that  we  preach.  Let  us  keep  out  of 
the  wordy  warfare  about  incidents  which,  however 
lamentable,  are  the  concomitants  of  all  wars,  and 
concentrate  our  efforts  upon  the  major  evangel  of 
divine  brotherhood.  When  nations  are  walking 
177 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

among  heaps  of  powder  with  lighted  matches  an 
explosion  is  inevitable  sooner  or  later.  The  vital 
question  concerns  not  so  much  the  dropping  of  a 
match  as  the  presence  of  powder.  Why  was  it 
there?  If  nations  fear  and  hate  one  another  they 
will  fight  whether  they  annually  add  one  or  a  dozen 
battleships  to  their  navy,  or  a  thousand  or  a  hun- 
dred thousand  men  to  their  army.  The  Golden 
Rule  must  be  made  effective  in  international  inter- 
course. This  is  the  urgent  duty  of  the  churches, 
and  American  churches  now  have  free  opportunity 
to  speak.  They  should  be  the  channel  through 
which  the  grace  of  God  can  become  operative.  They 
should  make  clear  the  distinction  between  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  and  so-called  modern  civilization, 
cease  baptizing  national  pride  and  selfishness  with 
the  name  of  patriotism,  put  forth  greater  effort  to 
make  the  divine  spirit  leaven  all  human  relation- 
ships, and  proclaim  the  missionary  message  of  in- 
ternational Christianity,  of  altruistic  ministries  to 
other  peoples,  of  God  as  the  universal  Father  in- 
stead of  a  national  deity,  of  the  unity  of  the  human 
race,  of  religion  as  'the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
178 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

tion'  and  the  antithesis  of  aggression  and  brute 
force. 

"Sympathy.  For  our  brethren  on  both  sides, 
many  of  whom  are  fighting  more  in  grief  than  in 
anger;  for  the  sick  and  the  wounded;  for  parents 
bereft  of  their  sons,  wives  of  their  husbands,  and 
children  of  their  fathers.  Let  us  not  complain  that 
in  this  era  of  agony  we  are  called  upon  to  give 
largely  of  our  means,  but  let  us  be  humbly  grateful 
that  we  can  help  our  brothers  in  their  time  of  utter 
need. 

"Prayer.  That  the  spirit  of  God  may  so  per- 
vade the  governments  and  peoples  now  at  war  that 
peace  may  be  speedily  established  on  a  basis  of  mu- 
tual forbearance  and  love ;  that  with  humble  confes- 
sion of  our  sins  we  seek  a  fuller  understanding  of 
the  divine  purpose  for  men  and  its  more  consistent 
expression  in  the  life  of  nations;  that  the  brutal 
and  selfish  elements  in  our  civilization  may  be  elim- 
inated; that  all  men  may  realize  that  they  are 
brothers ;  that  all  who  are  ministering  to  the  phys- 
ical and  spiritual  needs  of  the  soldiers  and  their 
suffering  wives  and  children  may  be  given  needful 
179 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

grace  and  strength;  that  the  God  of  all  pity  and 
comfort  may  help  the  sick,  the  wounded  and  the 
dying,  and  guide  the  sorrowing  peoples  who  are 
groping  their  way  in  the  darkness  that  has  fallen 
upon  them;  and  that  out  of  the  tumult  and  strife 
of  this  present  time  the  longings  of  a  stricken  world 
may  be  realized  in  an  era  of  universal  righteous- 
ness. 

"  'And  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be 
peace.' " 

The  New  Union  of  the  Fatherland 

The  Vaterland  Neues  Bund  (New  Union  of  the 
Fatherland),  lately  formed  in  Berlin  and  having 
as  leading  members  such  publicists  and  scholars  as 
Walter  Schiicking,  Lujo  Brentano,  Heinrich  Lam- 
masch,  Hans  Delbriick,  Hans  Wehberg,  Otfried 
Nippold,  Ludwig  Quidde,  Siegmund  Schultz,  has 
the  following  expressed  purpose : 

"The  furtherance  of  all  efforts  that  will  make  for 
infusing  into  politics  and  diplomacy  of  Europe  the 
idea  of  peaceful  competition  and  international  co- 
operation, and  that  in  turn  will  lead  to  a  political 
and  economic  understanding  between  the  cullure- 
180 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

peoples  of  Europe.  This  will  be  possible  only  if 
the  present  system  is  thrown  overboard — a  system 
which  enables  a  few  men  to  decide  the  fate  of  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  human  beings." 

This  union  is  on  record  in  strong  opposition  to 
the  retention  by  Germany  of  Belgium  or  any  part 
of  France.  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  all 
the  groups  interested  in  ending  the  war  with  lasting 
peace.  This  fact  arises  from  the  intellectual  im- 
portance of  the  members  of  the  Bund  and  from  the 
relation  of  their  nation  to  the  problems  in  question 
for  the  future  of  Europe  hinges  on  the  ability  of 
the  German  people  to  control  the  affairs  of  the 
German  nation.  The  members  of  the  Bund  are  not 
of  the  Social  Democrat  party,  though  their  inter- 
national aims  have  much  in  common. 

Prevention  of  War 

"An  International  Authority  and  the  Prevention 
of  War,"  published  by  Mr.  L.  S.  Woolf  in  the  New 
Statesman  (London,  July  10  and  July  17),  seems 
to  be  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  lucid  studies  of 
the  history  of  the  international  problems  of  to-day. 
181 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

It  leads  up  to  a  constructive  plan  having  much 
in  common  with  that  of  the  League  to  Enforce 
Peace. 

"The  first  difficulty,"  says  Mr.  Woolf,  "is  to  get 
the  governments,  either  of  the  eight  great  powers 
or  of  the  forty  lesser  states,  all  of  them  necessarily 
wary  and  suspicious,  to  agree  to  the  creation  of  any 
such  international  machinery.  .  .  .  No  impair- 
ment of  sovereignty  and  no  sacrifice  of  independ- 
ence are  proposed.  Each  State  remains  quite  free  to 
go  to  war  in  the  last  resort,  if  the  dispute  in  which 
it  is  engaged  proves  intractable.  Moreover,  na- 
tional disarmament,  to  which  at  this  moment  no 
State  will  ever  dream  of  taking  the  smallest  step,  is 
left  to  come  about  of  itself,  just  as  the  individual 
carrying  of  arms  falls  silently  into  desuetude  as 
and  when  fears  of  aggression  die  down  before  the 
rule  of  the  law.  The  new  world  that  we  have  to 
face  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  will  perforce  start 
from  the  ruins  of  the  old —  .  .  .  The  alterna- 
tive to  War  is  Law.  ."* 


*  Extract  from  "An  International  Authority  and  the  Pre- 
vention of  War,"  by  L.  S.  Woolf.  The  New  Statesman, 
Special  Supplement,  July  17,  1915.  (Fabian  Studies.) 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

The  essence  of  Mr.  Woolf's  proposals  is  there- 
fore "the  establishment  of  International  Author- 
ity." The  plan  proposes  a  scheme  of  embargos, 
prohibitions,  duties,  fines  or  boycotts,  which  shall 
leave  war  as  the  very  last  resort,  in  case  of  con- 
tinued obstinacy. 

The  idea  is  carefully  developed  and  the  facts  be- 
hind it  admirably  stated.  It  would,  however,  not 
be  easy  for  the  authorities  of  the  United  States  to 
bend  their  people  to  such  a  complex  arrangement, 
although  the  nation  might  be  pledged  to  a  "benev- 
olent neutrality." 

*  "Now  it  is  possible  to  say  without  begging  the 
question  that  in  the  last  one  hundred  years  a  sys- 
tem of  international  relationship  has  been  very  rap- 
idly developing  with  rudimentary  organs  for  regu- 
lating the  society  of  nations  without  warfare.  If 
we  are  really  to  transform  that  'some  sort  of  Inter- 
national organization  into  a  definite  international 
organization  which  will  commend  itself  to  the  dis- 
illusioned judgment  of  statesmen  and  other  "prac- 


*  Id.    The  New  Statesman,  Special  Supplement,  July  10, 
1915. 

183 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

tical"  men,'  we  must  build  not  a  Utopia  upon 
the  air  or  clouds  of  our  own  imaginations,  but  a 
duller  and  heavier  structure  placed  logically  upon 
the  foundations  of  the  existing  system.  I,  there- 
fore, propose  to  analyze  the  most  important  parts 
of  the  existing  system,  in  order  to  see  in  what  re- 
spect it  has,  during  the  last  century,  succeeded  and 
failed  in  preventing  war. 

"Before  proceeding  to  this  task  it  will  be  advis- 
able to  answer  a  preliminary  objection  which  in  the 
present  temper  of  the  world  is  bound  to  occur  to 
one's  mind  at  various  points  of  the  inquiry.  Sys- 
tems and  machinery,  it  is  said,  are  not  the  way  to 
prevent  war,  which  will  only  cease  when  men  cease 
to  desire  it;  Europe,  relapsed  to-day  into  barbar- 
ism, shows  that  men  will  never  cease  to  desire  it; 
we  must  face  the  fact  that  international  law  and 
treaties  and  arbitration  will  never  prevent  these 
periodical  shatterings  of  our  cizilization ;  one  week 
of  last  August  was  sufficient  to  sweep  away  the 
whole  elaborate  progress  of  a  century.  One  meets 
this  train  of  reasoning  continually  at  the  present 
184 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

time.  It  is  woven  out  of  pessimism  and  two  falla- 
cies. The  first  fallacy  is  the  historically  false  view 
which  men  invariably  take  of  the  present.  It  is  al- 
most impossible  not  to  believe  that  each  to-day  is  the 
end  of  the  world.  Our  own  short  era  seems  invari- 
ably to  be  in  the  history  of  the  world  a  culmination 
either  of  progress  or  dissolution.  But  in  history 
really  there  are  no  culminations  and  no  cataclysms ; 
there  is  only  a  feeble  dribble  of  progress,  sagging 
first  to  one  side  and  then  to  the  other,  but  always 
dribbling  a  little  in  one  direction.  Thus  the  French 
Revolution  was  for  every  one  in  it  the  end  or  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  The  aristocrat  dragged 
through  the  streets  of  Paris  to  the  guillotine  saw 
himself  perishing  in  a  holocaust  of  all  Law,  Order, 
Beauty  and  Good  Manners ;  the  men  who  dragged 
him  saw  only  the  sudden  birth  of  Justice  and  abso- 
lute liberty.  Both  were  wrong,  just  as  both  would 
have  been  wrong  if  they  had  suddenly  found  them- 
selves transported  some  thirty  years  on  into  the 
Paris  of  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, for  the  aristocrat  would  have  seen  the  culmi- 
185 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

nation  of  his  hopes  and  the  Red  of  his  despair.  In 
each  case  it  was  only  a  little  sag  in  the  progress  of 
history,  first  to  this  side  and  then  to  that,  though 
the  main  stream  was  dribbling  slowly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity.  So  with  this 
war.  Its  tremendous  importance  to  us  produces  in 
us  a  delusion  that  in  the  history  of  the  world  it  is 
tremendously  important.  But  it  is  neither  the  be- 
ginning nor  the  end  of  anything;  it  is  just  a  little 
sagging  to  one  side,  to  violence  and  stupidity  and 
barbarism,  and  in  ten  or  fifteen  or  twenty  years' 
time  there  will  be  a  sagging  to  the  other  side,  to 
what  we  dimly  recognize  as  a  progress  and  civil- 
ization. 

"The  other  fallacy  is  of  the  same  nature  as  that 
dreary  assertion  that  you  can  not  make  men  good 
by  act  of  Parliament.  In  one  sense  the  assertion 
is  a  truism,  and  in  another  it  is  so  simple  that  if  a 
majority  of  men  want  to  fight,  no  international  law, 
no  treaties  or  tribunals  will  prevent  them;  on  the 
other  hand,  society  is  so  complex  that  though  the 
majority  of  men  and  women  do  not  want  to  fight, 
if  there  are  no  laws  and  rules  of  conduct,  and  no 
188 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

pacific  methods  of  settling  disputes,  they  will  find 
themselves  at  one  another's  throats  before  they  are 
aware  of  or  desire  it." 

The  Pope's  Appeal  for  Peace 

The  Pope,  Benedict  XV,  has  issued  the  following 
appeal  for  peace  to  the  peoples  now  fighting  and 
to  their  chiefs: 

"When  We,  however  unworthy,  were  called  to  suc- 
ceed that  most  tender  Pontiff,  Pius  X,  on  the  apos- 
tolic throne — Pius  X,  whose  saintly  beneficent  life 
was  cut  short  by  grief  at  the  fratricidal  strife  just 
broken  out  in  Europe — We  cast  a  trembling  glance 
round  Us  at  the  bloodstained  fields  of  battle,  and 
We  felt  the  anguish  of  a  father  who  sees  his  house 
devastated,  his  people  homeless,  through  some  furi- 
ous hurricane.  And  thinking,  with  Our  heart  inex- 
pressibly stricken,  of  Our  young  sons  who  have 
been  cut  off  by  death  in  thousands,  We  felt  in  Our 
heart,  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ,  all  the  shock 
of  mothers  and  wives  prematurely  widowed,  the  in- 
consolable grief  of  children  too  soon  orphaned  of 
their  father's  guidance.  In  Our  heart,  which  shared 
187 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

the  terrible  anxiety  of  innumerable  families,  and 
knowing  well  the  imperious  duties  laid  on  Us  by 
the  sublime  mission  of  peace  and  love  entrusted  to 
Us  in  such  sad  times,  We  at  once  conceived  the  firm 
intention  to  consecrate  all  Our  activity  and  all  Our 
power  to  reconcile  the  belligerent  peoples;  and  of 
that  We  made  solemn  promises  to  the  Divine 
Saviour  who  willed  to  make  all  men  brothers  at  the 
price  of  His  blood. 

"The  first  words  which  We,  as  Supreme  Pastor 
of  souls,  spoke  to  the  nations  and  their  rulers  were 
of  peace  and  love.  Our  counsel  was  affectionate  and 
insistent,  both  as  father  and  friend,  but  it  was  not 
listened  to.  Sadness  grew  in  Us,  but  Our  intention 
did  not  weaken ;  We  turned  with  trust  to  the  Al- 
mighty, who  has  in  His  hand  the  minds  and  hearts 
both  of  subjects  and  kings,  invoking  from  Him  the 
cessation  of  the  awful  scourge.  We  desired  that  all 
the  faithful  should  join  in  Our  fervid  and  humble 
prayer,  and,  to  render  it  more  efficacious,  We  or- 
dained that  it  should  be  accompanied  by  works  of 
Christian  penitence.  But  to-day,  on  the  sad  anni- 
versary of  the  outbreak  of  the  tremendous  conflict, 
188 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

the  desire  that  the  war  may  cease  soon  comes  from 
Our  heart  more  warmly,  Our  fatherly  cry  for  peace 
more  strongly.  May  this  cry  overcome  the  fearful 
crash  of  arms  and  reach  the  peoples  now  at  war 
and  their  chiefs,  including  both  the  one  side  and 
the  other  to  more  kindly  and  serene  counsels. 

"In  the  holy  name  of  God,  in  the  name  of  our 
heavenly  Father  and  Lord,  by  the  blessed  Blood  of 
Jesus,  the  price  of  human  redemption,  We  conjure 
you  whom  Divine  Providence  has  called  to  govern 
the  fighting  nations  to  put  an  end  once  for  all  to 
this  awful  carnage,  which  has  already  been  dishon- 
oring Europe  for  a  year.  It  is  brother's  blood 
which  is  being  poured  out  on  sea  and  land.  The 
best  soil  of  Europe,  garden  of  the  world,  is  sown 
with  corpses  and  ruins ;  where  a  short  time  ago  flour- 
ished the  industry  of  the  workshop,  the  fruitful  la- 
bor of  the  fields,  now  cannon  thunders  awfully,  and 
in  its  fury  of  destruction  does  not  spare  village  and 
city,  sows  havoc  and  death  everywhere.  You  bear 
before  God  and  men  the  tremendous  responsibility 
of  peace  and  war ;  listen  to  Our  prayer,  the  paternal 
voice  of  the  Vicar  of  the  Eternal  and  Supreme 
189 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Judge,  to  whom  you  must  give  an  account  of  your 
public  doings  as  of  your  private  actions. 

"The  copious  riches  which  God  the  Creator  has 
given  to  the  lands  subject  to  you  make  possible  for 
you  the  continuation  of  the  strife;  but  at  what 
cost?  Answer,  the  thousands  of  young  lives  spent 
every  day  on  the  battlefields ;  answer,  the  ruins  of 
so  many  cities  and  villages,  so  many  monuments 
which  you  owe  to  the  piety  and  genius  of  your  an- 
cestors. And  the  bitter  tears  poured  out  in  the  pri- 
vacy of  the  domestic  hearth,  or,  joined  with  prayer, 
at  the  foot  of  altars — do  not  these,  too,  repeat  that 
the  price  of  the  long-drawn-out  struggle  is  great, 
too  great? 

"Nor  let  it  be  said  that  this  huge  conflict  can  not 
be  settled  without  the  violence  of  arms.  Let  each 
put  aside  the  purpose  of  destruction,  and  reflect 
that  nations  do  not  die;  impatiently  they  bear  the 
yoke  put  on  them,  preparing  for  revenge,  and  hand- 
ing down  from  generation  to  generation  a  miser- 
able heritage  of  hatred  and  vengeance. 

"Why  not  now  think  with  calm  conscience  of  the 
rights  and  just  aspirations  of  the  peoples?  Why 
190 


PEACE    MANIFESTOES 

not  initiate,  with  good  will,  an  exchange  of  views, 
direct  or  indirect,  in  order  to  take  account  of  those 
rights  and  aspirations  as  far  as  possible,  and  so 
succeed  in  putting  an  end  to  the  awful  strife,  as 
has  happened  in  similar  circumstances  before? 
Blessed  be  he  who  first  shall  raise  the  olive  branch, 
and  give  his  right  hand  to  the  enemy,  offering  rea- 
sonable conditions  of  peace.  The  equilibrium  of  the 
world  and  the  prosperous  and  sure  tranquillity  of 
the  nations  rest  on  mutual  benevolence,  and  on  re- 
spect for  the  rights  and  dignity  of  others,  more 
than  on  the  multitude  of  armed  forces  and  a  for- 
midable ring  of  fortresses. 

"This  is  the  cry  of  peace  which  comes  from  Our 
heart  more  strongly  on  this  sad  day ;  and  We  invite 
all  who  are  the  friends  of  peace  in  the  world  to  help 
Us  in  hastening  the  end  of  the  war,  which  for  a 
year  has  made  of  Europe  one  vast  battlefield.  May 
Jesus  in  His  mercy,  through  the  intercession  of  His 
Sorrowful  Mother,  bring  about  that  at  last  may 
rise,  after  so  awful  a  tempest,  the  calm  and  radiant 
dawn  of  peace,  image  of  His  divine  countenance. 
May  there  be  heard  soon  the  hymns  of  gratitude 
191 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

to  the  Most  High,  giver  of  all  good,  for  the  happy 
reconciliation  of  the  states ;  may  the  peoples  return, 
in  the  brotherhood  of  love,  to  the  peaceful  rivalry 
of  studies,  arts  and  industries,  and  when  the  rule 
of  right  is  restored,  may  they  resolve  to  entrust  for 
the  future  the  solution  of  their  differences,  not  to 
the  drawn  sword,  but  to  reasons  of  equity  and  jus- 
tice, studied  with  the  necessary  calm  thought.  This 
will  be  their  finest  and  most  glorious  conquest. 

"With  the  dear  hope  and  trust  that  such  desir- 
able fruit  of  the  tree  of  peace  may  come  soon  to 
comfort  the  world,  We  impart  the  Apostolic  Bene- 
diction to  all  who  form  the  mystic  flock  entrusted 
to  Us,  and  also  for  those  who  do  not  yet  belong  to 
the  Roman  Church,  We  pray  the  Lord  to  bring 
them  close  to  Us  with  bonds  of  perfect  love. 

"Given  from  the  Vatican,  at  Rome,  July  28, 
1915.  BENEDICT  XV,  POPE." 


CHAPTER  VI 

INDIVIDUALS  AND  PEACE 

Basis  of  Peace  in  Europe 

PRESIDENT  CHARLES  W.  ELIOT  has 
given  a  well-considered  "Basis  of  Peace  in 
Europe."  *    The  essential  features  expressed  are 
these : 

1.  No  civilized  nation  to  have  dominion  over  an- 
other, large  or  small. 

2.  Absolute  security  guaranteed  for  the  small 
states,    and   reasonable  adjustments    for   districts 
held  against  the  will  of  the  inhabitants. 

3.  Immunity  to  commerce  in  time  of  war,  the 
high  seas  and  the  channels  of  commerce  to  be  free, 
under  international  guarantees. 

4.  The  open  door  to  trade. 

5.  The  seizure  of  distant  colonies  or  adjoining 
provinces  by  force  to  be  abandoned. 


*  New  York  Times,  May  3,  1915. 
193 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

6.  The  compensation  of  Belgium,  the  sum  in- 
volved to  be  adjusted  by  neutral  arbitration. 

7.  Reduction  of  armament  with  establishment 
of  a  supreme  international  tribunal,  the  mainte- 
nance of  an  international  military  and  naval  force 
and  the  stable  development  of  international  law. 

"The  path  of  peace,"  says  the  New  York  Times, 
referring  to  Doctor  Eliot's  statement,  "lies  open  in 
the  sight  of  all  these  nations,  peace  with  honor, 
with  the  hope  of  permanence.  It  is  time.  There 
are  no  right  purposes  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  war  that  may  not  be 
achieved  in  the  deliberation  of  a  dozen  men  seated 
at  the  council  table.  In  the  terms  of  peace  enforced 
by  conquest  there  would  almost  certainly  lie  the 
germ  of  future  wars.  .  .  .  For  the  happiness 
of  mankind,  for  the  prosperity  of  nations,  the  dif- 
ference is  inconceivably  great." 

Plan  to  End  War 

Under  the  title  of  A  World-Wide  Plan  to  End 
War,  a  scheme  having  something  in  common  with 
the  League  to  Enforce  Peace,  had  been  earlier  pub- 
194 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

lished  by  General  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  of  Los  An- 
geles. This  plan  goes  into  much  detail  and  may  be 
found  useful  when  the  exhausted  belligerents  find  it 
possible  to  come  to  an  agreement.  "Under  the  plan 
proposed,"  says  General  Otis,  "the  last  resort 
would  never  come  because  the  recalcitrant  nation 
would  find  itself  in  a  hopeless  plight." 

Enduring  Peace 

The  following  suggestions  are  made  by  Honor- 
able William  J.  Bryan: 

"To  my  mind  the  paramount  question  now  is  not 
'Who  began  the  war?'  or  'Which  side  has  been  most 
cruel  in  its  conduct  of  the  war?'  History  will  ren- 
der a  verdict  on  these  questions  when  passion  has 
subsided  and  when  all  the  facts  are  obtainable.  The 
most  important  question  now  is,  'How  can  peace  be 
restored?' 

"The  war  can  not  last  always ;  the  end  must  come 
some  time.  Why  should  any  belligerent  nation  hesi- 
tate to  state  the  conditions  upon  which  it  will  agree 
to  peace?  The  war  is  not  an  international  secret; 
it  is  being  waged  in  public,  and  all  nations  are  suf- 
195 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

fering.  Has  not  the  world  a  right  to  know  why 
bloodshed  continues?  Is  it  not  due  to  the  neutral 
nations  that  the  participants  should  give  not  vague 
generalities,  but  definite  and  explicit  statements  as 
to  the  end  sought  ?  If  the  belligerents  are  too  much 
absorbed  in  the  struggle  to  consider  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  do  they  not  owe  it  to  their  own  brave  sol- 
diers and  their  own  suffering  people  to  answer  the 
question,  'Why  do  we  die?* 

"Who  knows  but  that  peace  may  be  possible  now 
— not  a  truce,  but  a  permanent  and  enduring  peace  ? 
If  the  nations  will  only  make  known  for  what  they 
are  fighting  they  may  find  it  possible  to  come  to  a 
satisfactory  understanding.  Recrimination  as  to 
what  is  being  done  and  silence  as  to  what  is  desired 
— these  mean  an  indefinite  prolongation  of  the 
struggle.  The  only  possible  hope  of  reaching  an 
end  lies  in  a  frank  statement  by  each  nation  of  its 
position.  In  announcing  the  terms  which  will  be 
acceptable,  the  nations  will  be  restrained  by  a  sense 
of  responsibility,  because  upon  the  nation  or  na- 
tions which  demand  conditions  which  are  unjust 
must  rest  the  blame  for  a  continuation  of  the  inde- 
196 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

scribable  woes  of  this  unspeakable  war.  The  con- 
ditions of  peace  must  be  announced  ultimately; 
why  not  now?" 

The  Seizure  of  Colonies 

Professor  G.  Lowes  Dickinson,  of  Cambridge, 
opposes  vigorously  the  change  in  the  control  of  col- 
onies as  a  result  of  conquest.  He  writes : 

"Sir  Harry  Johnston  contemplates  the  retention 
by  the  victorious  allies  of  all  the  German  colonies. 
That  this  is  likely  to  happen  I  concede,  and,  in  par- 
ticular, that  the  governments  of  Australia,  New 
Zealand  and  South  Africa,  rather  than  our  govern- 
ment at  home,  will  have  the  decisive  voice  in  the 
matter;  but  I  differ  from  Sir  Harry  in  thinking 
that  that  policy  will  be  not  admirable  but  disastrous. 

"This  country  went  into  the  war  ostensibly  in 
defense  of  Belgium  and  France,  and  (as  we  are  con- 
stantly told)  in  order  to  defeat  German  schemes  of 
world-empire.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Germans 
went  into  the  war  (I  speak  of  the  people,  not  of  the 
government)  in  the  belief  that  their  independence 
and  integrity  were  threatened  by  an  aggressive  at- 
197 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

tack  from  the  Triple  Entente.  As  the  war  has 
proceeded,  the  common  theme  of  German  publicists 
and  pamphleteers  has  been  that  England  engi- 
neered the  war  out  of  jealousy  of  German  trade 
and  in  order  to  continue  and  complete  that  policy 
of  world-dominion  which  she  has  steadily  pursued 
for  centuries.  Now,  so  far  as  the  origin  of  the  war 
is  concerned,  I  believe  the  German  version  to  be 
false  and  the  English  version  to  be  true,  but  the 
nations  will  be  judged,  and  rightly,  not  by  what 
they  said  when  they  went  into  the  war  but  by  what 
they  do  when  they  come  out  of  it.  History,  I  think, 
will  brush  away  the  words  and  decide  by  the  facts, 
and  what  history  will  find,  if  the  policy  Sir  Harry 
Johnston  advocates  is  pursued,  will  be  that  England, 
having  gone  to  war  ostensibly  to  defend  the  status 
quo  against  German  ambition  for  world-domination, 
used  the  victory  enormously  to  increase  her  already 
enormous  empire  and  to  put  permanently  at  her 
mercy  the  trade  of  her  most  important  rival.  In  other 
words,  history  will  justify  the  German  case,  on 
the  facts,  and  dismiss  with  contempt  the  British 
case,  and  we  shall  emerge,  once  more,  branded  with 
198 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

that  double  mark  of  hypocrisy  and  unscrupulous- 
ness  which  foreign  critics  have  always  affixed  to  our 
policy.  This  will  not  be  matter  of  congratulation 
for  any  Englishman  who  cares  about  the  honor  and 
reputation  of  his  country. 

"Secondly,  if  the  policy  proposed  is  pursued,  it 
must  mean  a  very  long  war — two  years,  three  years, 
perhaps  ten  years — who  can  tell?  Is  the  cost  of 
these  additions  to  the  British  and  French  empires 
not  to  be  counted?  People  talk  lightly  of  a  war  of 
attrition.  But  what  does  this  really  mean?  It 
means,  not  merely  the  destruction  of  the  stored-up 
capital  of  centuries,  not  merely  the  diversion  on 
an  unprecedented  scale  of  productive  to  unproduc- 
tive labor,  not  merely  a  measure  of  poverty  if  not 
of  anarchy  after  the  war,  which  may  render  forever 
impossible  any  solution  of  those  social  problems 
which  are  the  main  concern  of  all  nations,  not  merely 
the  killing  of  millions  of  men  in  the  prime  of  life 
with  all  the  incalculable  suffering  involved ;  it  means 
further,  that  an  enormous  proportion  of  those  men 
will  leave  no  children  behind  them.  In  other  words, 
that  the  whole  stock  of  Europe  will  be  permanently 
199 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

and  irremediably  worsened;  for  it  is  the  best  who 
are  being  killed,  not  the  worst.  Let  that  process 
go  on  long  enough,  and  it  matters  very  little  who 
wins  or  loses  the  war ;  for  European  civilization,  in 
either  case,  will  be  doomed.  That  this,  the  main 
consideration,  the  one  certain  and  inevitable  result 
of  the  war,  should  be  left  out  of  all  the  calculations 
of  our  statesmen  and  journalists  is  the  gravest  fea- 
ture of  the  crisis  through  which  we  are  passing. 

"But  Sir  Harry  seems  to  think  that  the  arrange- 
ment to  which  he  looks  forward  will  be  a  guarantee 
of  future  peace,  because  it  will  obviate  German  in- 
trigues in  Africa  and  elsewhere.  Wars  do  not  arise 
from  intrigues,  they  arise  from  the  conditions  that 
provoke  intrigues,  and  those  conditions,  so  far  as 
Germany  is  concerned,  have  been,  in  recent  years, 
her  need  and  desire  for  colonial  markets.  Sir  Harry 
proposes  that  henceforth  her  access  to  such  mar- 
kets shall  be  wholly  dependent  upon  the  good-will 
or  the  caprice  of  her  inveterate  enemies.  Does  that 
look  like  a  condition  of  peace?  To  me  it  would 
seem  simply  impossible  that  a  nation  as  strong,  as 
productive,  as  technically  accomplished  as  the  Ger- 
200 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

mans  will  ever  acquiesce  in  a  position  so  humiliat- 
ing and  so  insecure.  Such  a  Germany  would  be  a 
permanent  center  of  unrest  in  Europe.  All  hope 
of  the  reduction  of  armaments  and  the  destruction 
of  militarism  would  disappear.  We  should  be  back 
again  in  the  old  morass  of  shifting  alliances  and 
counter-alliances :  and  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who 
would  confidently  prophesy  that  Germany  will  never 
find  an  ally  in  the  East  and  an  opportunity  to  re- 
cover that  'place  in  the  sun'  which  will  be  more  than 
ever  the  object  of  her  policy. 

"The  nations  of  Europe,  I  believe — I  do  not 
speak  for  the  journalists  or  the  government — do 
really  desire  a  settlement  which  will  rule  out  war 
in  the  future.  Such  a  settlement  may,  indeed,  be 
impossible,  but  there  is  one  way  in  which  it  seems 
hopeful  to  approach  it.  It  is  the  way  indicated  in 
your  recent  supplements,  and  urged,  in  some  form 
or  other,  from  many  other  quarters.  That  way  is 
a  mutual  guarantee  by  all  the  chief  nations  against 
the  disturbance  by  force  of  an  arrangement  itself 
constructed  so  as  to  give  the  fullest  possible  satis- 
faction to  the  national  and  economic  aspirations  of 
201 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

the  states.  The  method  of  conquest,  followed  up 
by  alliances  to  guarantee  the  conquests,  is  the  di- 
rect opposite  of  this.  Upon  which  of  these  views 
shall  prevail  depends,  I  believe,  the  whole  future  of 
Western  civilization." 

International  Government 

Mr.  John  A.  Hobson,  of  London,  under  the  title, 
Towards  International  Government,  has  presented 
a  trenchant  analysis  of  the  conditions  of  perma- 
nent peace.  This  work  can  not  be  too  highly  com- 
mended. Its  thesis  is  thus  summed  up  on  the  con- 
cluding page : 

"At  the  end  of  the  war  though  the  different  peo- 
ples may  still  dispute  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  its 
immediate  cause  they  will  seek  its  deeper  origins  in 
the  belated  survival  of  the  evil  arts  of  militarism 
and  diplomacy  with  their  false  outlooks  and  their 
group  premises.  They  will  refuse  to  allow  the  prac- 
titioners of  these  arts  to  resume  their  sway  over 
their  lives  and  to  force  them  again  like  dumb,  driven 
cattle  toward  the  slaughter-house.  .  .  .  They 
will  not  be  deterred  from  passing  to  this  goal  (of 
202 


INDIVIDUALS   AND   PEACE 

international  government  with  local  autonomy)  by 
theories  about  the  absolutism  of  states  or  the  bio- 
logical necessity  of  war  or  by  false  analogies  from 
history,  but  will  definitely  declare  for  a  common- 
wealth of  nations  as  the  only  security  for  a  peace- 
ful civilization  in  the  future." 

Restoration  of  Europe 

Europaische  Wiederherstellung  (Restoration  of 
Europe),  by  Alfred  H.  Fried,  is  a  compact  and 
most  valuable  discussion  of  the  elements  involved 
in  the  restoration  of  law  and  order  in  Europe.  It 
is  the  only  work  of  the  kind  published  in  German 
(Zurich,  Orell  &  Fuessli,  Publishers,  1915)  since 
the  war  began.  Doctor  Fried  urges :  "The  others 
will  have  to  change  their  ideas  concerning  war.  We 
pacifists  have  predicted  what  has  taken  place;  we 
need  not  learn  anew." 

The  Great  Settlement 

The  Great  Settlement,  by  C.  Ernest  Fayle,  of 
London,  is  a  valuable  discussion  of  the  same  prob- 
lems, with  perhaps  too  much  stress  laid  on  changes 
in  the  map. 

203 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Future  of  World  Peace 

The  Future  of  World  Peace,  by  Roger  W.  Bab- 
son,  is  an  excellent  discussion  of  the  economic  prob- 
lems involved  in  world  peace. 

Social  Progress 

Social  Progress  and  the  Darwinian  Theory,  by 
George  W.  Nasmyth,  of  the  World  Peace  Founda- 
tion, is  one  of  the  best  of  many  books  looking  for- 
ward to  the  social  reconstruction  of  disordered  civ- 
ilization. 

Insurance  and  War 

In  a  suggestive  volume  on  War  and  Insurance, 
Professor  Josiah  Royce,  of  Harvard  University,  in- 
vokes the  policy  of  mutual  help  through  co-oper- 
ative insurance  as  a  remedy  for  war. 

After  War,  What? 

Under  this  heading,  in  March,  1915,  the  present 
writer  gave  a  brief  analysis  of  some  of  the  elements 
needed  in  lasting  peace.* 

*  Printed  in  "War  and  the  Breed,"  The  Beacon  Press, 
Boston,  August,  1915. 

204 


INDIVIDUALS    AND   PEACE 

"Let  us  assume  that  there  will  be  no  victory  for 
either  side,  but  that  all  the  nations  concerned  will 
find  themselves  defeated.  The  Treaty  of  Peace 
must  be  written  at  last.  There  are  many  things 
which  we  would  like  to  put  into  this  treaty,  things 
essential  to  the  future  security  and  well-being  of 
Europe.  But  we  shall  not  get  many  of  them.  We 
may  not  get  any.  It  may  be  that  the  drawn  game 
will  end  in  a  truce,  not  of  peace  but  of  exhaustion. 

"After  the  war  is  over  then  will  begin  the  wort 
of  reconstruction.  Then  will  come  the  test  of  our 
mettle.  Can  Europe  build  up  a  solid  foundation 
of  peace  amid  the  havoc  of  greed  and  hate?  Con- 
structive work  belongs  to  peace;  it  may  take  fifty 
years  to  put  the  Continent  in  order.  When  the  kill- 
ing is  stopped,  permanently  or  for  a  breathing 
spell,  the  forces  of  law  and  order  must  begin  mo- 
bilization. 

"There  are  many  things  we  need  to  make  civiliza- 
tion stable  and  wholesome.  Every  gain  counts.  We 
want  foreign  exploitation  limited  by  law  and  jus- 
tice. We  want  to  have  diplomacy  and  armies  no 
longer  at  the  call  of  adventurers.  We  want  no  more 
205 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

'red  rubber,'  red  copra  or  red  diamonds.  We  want 
open  diplomacy  and  we  want  democracy.  What- 
ever is  secret  is  corrupt,  and  the  control  of  armies 
by  an  unchecked  few  is  a  constant  menace  to  human 
welfare.  The  people  who  pay  and  who  die  should 
know  what  they  pay  for  and  why  they  are  called 
upon  to  die. 

"We  want  all  private  profits  taken  away  from  war. 
We  want  to  see  armies  and  navies  brought  down 
from  the  maximum  of  expense  to  the  minimum  of 
safety.  We  want  to  have  conscription  abolished 
and  military  service  put  on  the  same  voluntary  ba- 
sis as  other  more  constructive  trades.  A  direct 
cause  of  modern  warfare  is  the  eagerness  to  find 
something  for  overgrown  armies  and  navies  to  do. 
We  want  to  abolish  piracy  at  sea  and  murder  from 
the  air.  We  want  to  conserve  the  interests  of  neu- 
trals and  non-combatants.  We  want  to  take  from 
war  at  once  its  loot  and  its  glory.  We  hope  espe- 
cially for  an  abatement  of  tariffs  and  the  removal 
of  all  obstacles  that  check  the  flow  of  commerce. 
With  a  free  current  of  trade  the  eastern  half  of 
Europe  would  lose  its  commercial  unrest.  We  can 
206 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

not  mend  all  the  defects  of  geography,  but  wt 
might  refrain  from  aggravating  them.  Land- 
locked nations  will  not  be  so  tempted  to  'hack  a 
way  to  the  sea,'  if  it  is  not  made  artificially  distant 
by  barriers  to  trade.  We  would  like  to  have  nations 
pay  their  debts,  not  struggle  in  rivalry  of  borrow- 
ing. We  would  welcome  the  day  of  fewer  kings, 
all  with  limited  authority. 

"Furthermore  we  would  like  to  see  manhood  suf- 
frage everywhere  and  womanhood  suffrage  too, 
Councils  of  the  People  instead  of  'Concerts  of  Pow- 
ers,' effective  parliaments,  not  mere  debating  soci- 
eties without  power  to  act.  We  would  like  to  see 
land-reforms,  tax-reforms,  reforms  in  schools  and 
universities,  in  judicial  procedure,  in  religion,  sani- 
tation and  temperance,  with  the  elimination  of  caste 
and  privilege  wherever  entrenched.  We  would  like 
to  see  every  man  a  potential  citizen  of  the  country 
he  lives  in.  We  would  like  to  see  the  map  of  Eu- 
rope redrawn  a  bit  (but  not  too  much)  in  the  inter- 
ests of  freedom  and  fair  play.  We  would  like  to 
see  the  small  nations  left  as  stable  as  the  great  ones, 
for  small  nations  have  done  more  than  their  share 
207 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

in  the  work  of  civilization.  We  believe  that  a  na- 
tion can  have  no  welfare  independent  of  the  indi- 
vidual welfare  of  its  people.  That  nation  is  great- 
est which  has  most  individual  initiative  along  with 
most  abundant  life. 

"We  would  like  to  see  Belgium  restored  to  the 
'permanent  neutrality'  which  is  her  right,  and 
Luxemburg  as  well.  We  believe  that  the  'Balkans 
should  belong  to  the  Balkans.'  We  would  like  to 
see,  if  it  may  be,  Constantinople  neutralized  and 
autonomy  restored  to  Alsace-Lorraine,  to  Finland, 
to  Armenia;  to  hear  from  the  Danes  in  northern 
Schleswig  and  from  the  Poles  in  Warsaw,  Posen 
and  Galicia.  The  peoples  especially  concerned 
should  be  consulted  over  every  change  in  boundary 
lines.  We  would  insist  that  The  Hague  Conference 
be  made  up  wholly  of  serious  men,  not  baffled  by 
diplomatists,  sparring  for  advantage.  We  would 
like  to  see  The  Hague  Tribunal  dignified  as  the  In- 
ternational Court  of  the  World,  to  extend  and  cre- 
ate international  law  by  its  precedents.  We  would 
like  to  have  judicial  procedure  and  arbitral  deci- 
sions everywhere  take  the  place  of  war  talk  and 
208 


INDIVIDUALS   AND   PEACE 

war  preparations.  To  see  the  channels  of  com- 
merce opened  wide,  neutralized,  unfortified  and  free 
to  all  the  world — the  Bosporus,  the  Dardanelles, 
the  Straits  of  Denmark,  Gibraltar  and  Aden,  the 
Canals  of  Suez,  Panama  and  Kiel  as  well.  Above 
all  we  should  hope  to  have  human  life  held  as  sacred 
as  the  flag,  and  patriotism  become  'planetary,'  not 
merely  tribal  or  provincial.  Whatever  is  good  for 
the  world  is  good  for  every  nation  in  it.  All  this 
leaves  task  enough  for  the  lovers  of  peace. 

"Not  much  of  all  this  may  go  into  the  coming 
treaty  of  peace.  But  the  struggle  will  go  on,  the 
most  intense  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation. 
A  few  resolute  men,  reckless  of  consequences, 
brought  on  the  great  war.  A  few  men,  equally 
resolute,  could  make  war  impossible,  if  they  had 
the  support  their  cause  deserves." 

rA  Peace  Proposal 

Among  schemes  set  forth  by  business  men,  the 

"Peace  Proposal"  of  Charles  L.  Bernheimer,  of 

New  York,  is  worthy  of  attention.     This  is  based 

on  the  principle  that  "as  a  friend  sometimes  be- 

209 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

comes  an  enemy,  by  just  treatment  an  enemy  may 
be  made  a  friend."  In  this  plan  public  opinion 
should  demand  peace,  and  the  public  opinion  of 
America  should  ask  from  the  president  a  "commis- 
sion on  immediate  action."  The  civilian  should  be 
fully  represented  and  the  Golden  Rule  should  be 
recognized  as  bearing  a  relation  to  international 
law.  This  will  imply  settlement  on  the  basis  of 
conciliation  and  arbitration. 

Interests  of  Neutral  Nations 

Havelock  Ellis  insists  on  the  basic  principle  that 
war  is  no  longer  "the  private  concern  of  the  nations 
that  choose  to  fight."  The  war  involves  and  injures 
every  neutral  nation,  and  those  who  began  the  war 
by  that  fact  made  themselves  the  "enemies  of  all 
the  world."  Without  the  participation  of  neutral 
nations  no  lasting  peace  can  be  arranged. 

Interchangeable  Citizenship 

Darwin  P.  Kingsley,  president  of  the  New  York 
Life  Insurance  Company,  insists  on  the  necessity 
210 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

of  "interchangeable  citizenship"  in  the  civilized  na- 
tions, as  it  exists  among  the  forty-eight  states  of 
the  American  union.  This  has  widened  the  old-time 
type  of  state  or  colonial  patriotism  into  a  national 
feeling.  This  would,  in  itself,  break  down  the  evil 
side  of  nationality,  of  which  the  narrow,  selfish 
form  of  patriotism  is  an  expression,  while  preserv- 
ing all  that  is  worth  while  in  local  self-government 
and  local  pride  in  conditions  and  in  achievement. 

The  American  Institute  In  Belgium 

From  Belgium,  through  Senator  Henri  La  Fon- 
taine and  George  Sarton,  comes  the  proposition  of 
an  American  institute  to  propagate  in  Europe  the 
fundamental  and  workable  ideals  of  America. 
These  are  in  brief:  democratic  freedom,  free  trade 
among  federated  states,  interchangeable  citizen- 
ship within  these  states,  local  home  rule  with  mu- 
tual understandings  in  matters  of  common  interest, 
armies  and  navies  international  only,  free  schools, 
secular  schools,  free  religion,  and  with  all  these  the 
development  of  a  broadened  patriotism  and  a  form 
211 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

of  discipline,  not  through  outside  compulsion,  but 
through  personal  training  and  loyalty  to  the  com- 
mon interests  of  society. 

"America  in  many  regards  is  more  advanced  than 
Europe.  She  is  more  peaceful  and  brotherly,  the 
spirit  of  true  democracy  has  been  better  unfolded 
there.  But  the  elite  of  the  American  people  do  not 
underestimate  all  that  they  owe  to  the  mother  coun- 
tries from  which  they  came.  They  would  be  only 
too  glad  to  give  them  in  return  as  an  homage  of 
filial  gratitude  a  part  of  the  immense  experience  of 
the  New  World. 

"This  is  not  an  easy  task,  however,  because  Eu- 
rope is  so  old.  She  is  proud,  she  is  not  very  ready, 
perhaps,  to  listen  to  the  teaching  of  young  Amer- 
ica. Old  folks  do  not  like  to  be  taught  by  children, 
by  their  children." 

The  pretext  for  such  an  institute  is  found  in  the 
need  of  Belgium.  "What  Belgium  will  need  is  a 
moral  and  educational  help.  She  will  not  need 
American  money,  but  American  ideals.  And  the 
same  can  be  said  of  all  Europe."  An  American  in- 
stitute in  Belgium,  in  Holland,  or  in  Switzerland 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

"would  be  a  living  center  of  international  informa- 
tion and  good-will." 

Fundamentals  of  Peace 

Mr.  August  Schvan,  a  Swedish  officer,  now  be- 
come a  strong  champion  of  peace,  in  a  plea  for 
"Planetary  Patriotism"  insists  first  on  the  neces- 
sity of  free  trade  in  Europe.  Free  trade  among 
the  United  States  of  America  has  formed  one  of 
the  strongest  bonds  of  union,  as  competing  tariffs 
have  formed  a  main  cause  of  discord.  The  federa- 
tion of  the  German  states  put  an  end  to  the  local 
customs  office,  and  this  achievement  has  been  one 
of  the  great  factors  in  the  progress  of  Germany. 
Free  trade  and  interchangeable  citizenship,  the  spe- 
cial features  of  Mr.  Schvan's  plan,  would  of  them- 
selves bring  about  a  practical  federation  of  the 
United  States  of  Europe. 

The  central  feature  of  Mr.  Schvan's  plan  is  the 
acceptance  of  the  "principle  of  nationality  to  which 
universal  free  trade,  a  world  citizenship,  an  inter- 
national supreme  court,  an  international  maritime 
police  fleet  and  general  disarmament  form  a  neces- 
213 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

sary  complement.  There  would  be  no  point  at  all 
in  having  within  a  sovereign  state  any  not  perfectly 
satisfied  area."  Mr.  Schvan  very  justly  opposes 
two  conceptions  sometimes  put  forward  by  some 
who  work  for  peace.  The  one  is  the  forcible  estab- 
lishment of  democracy  throughout  the  world;  the 
other  is  the  creation  of  a  world-parliament  to  frame 
laws  for  the  whole  earth. 

Very  few  legislative  statutes  are  suitable  to  all 
kinds  of  conditions  and  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
There  is  already  too  much  centralization  in  the  civ- 
ilized world  at  the  expense  of  local  self-govern- 
ment. "People  who  talk  about  an  international 
parliament  must  either  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
great  majority  of  mankind  is  bound  to  earth,  or 
secretly  advocate  the  replacement  of  the  autocracy 
of  the  sword  by  the  tyranny  of  theoretic  specu- 
lation." 

Mr.  Schvan  believes  that  the  root  of  much  of  the 
evil  in  Europe  lies  with  the  outworn  system  of  di- 
plomacy which,  confirmed  in  the  Congress  of  Vi- 
enna which  followed  the  downfall  of  Napoleon, 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

"sowed  the  seeds  of  all  the  wars  of  the  last  hun- 
dred years.  The  coming  congress  can  make  this 
war  the  last  of  all  wars  by  totally  abolishing  all 
diplomacy  and  foreign  policy.  The  real  and  the 
only  way  to  control  diplomacy  is  to  shut  the  doors 
of  every  state  department  and  of  every  foreign  of- 
fice in  the  world." 

Referring  to  the  position  of  the  United  States 
as  possible  mediator  in  Europe,  Mr.  Schvan  ob- 
serves : 

"To  fulfil  their  great  mission,  the  people  of 
America  must  display  in  their  thinking  a  little  of 
that  courage  which  now  runs  to  waste  on  the  blood- 
soaked  fields  of  Europe  because  men  have  been 
taught  to  die  for  their  country.  It  ought  to  teach 
mankind  a  far  nobler  conception — that  of  living 
for  their  country." 

Says  Edmond  Demolins,  of  Paris :  "State  patri- 
otism founded  on  political  ambition  is  but  an  arti- 
ficial, spurious  patriotism,  which  leads  peoples  to 
ruin.  True  patriotism  consists  in  energetically 
maintaining  private  independence  against  the  de- 
215 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

velopment  and  encroachments  of  the  state,  because 
such  is  the  only  way  of  ensuring  social  power  and 
prosperity  for  the  fatherland." 

Science  in  Personal  and  National  Right 

In  Milan  Professor  Umano  has  proposed  a  more 
serious  application  of  science  to  the  fundamental 
basis  in  national  and  international  right.  Science 
is  the  result  of  human  experience  tested  and  set  in 
order.  It  is  the  most  international  and  cosmopoli- 
tan of  all  human  activities  and  its  teachings  are 
totally  opposed  to  the  mixture  of  sordid  brutality 
and  romantic  sentimentalism  which  lies  behind  the 
activities  of  war. 

Umano  argues  that  medicine  ceased  to  be  charla- 
tanism when  men  began  seriously  to  study  the  pos- 
itive facts  of  anatomy  with  which  every  school  of 
medicine  has  to  deal.  As  science  progressed  the 
various  honest  workers  for  the  physical  well-being 
of  humanity  came  into  closer  relation,  for  they 
must  all  recognize  fundamental  truth. 

Politics  will  leave  the  domain  of  charlatanism 
when  it  is  understood  that  it  must  begin  at  the  be- 
216 


INDIVIDUALS    AND   PEACE 

ginning  with  the  positively  ascertained  facts  of 
human  right  as  disclosed  by  the  method  of  science. 
Because  current  discussions  of  governmental  af- 
fairs are  based  on  fancy,  whim  and  tradition,  not 
on  science,  these  discussions  have  little  value.  Poli- 
tics constitute,  therefore,  "an  entangling  snare  for 
honest  statesmen,  a  happy  hunting-ground  for  ma- 
licious adventurers — the  source  of  a  daily  deluge 
of  wordy  speeches." 

Umano  calls  attention  to  the  manifold  achieve- 
ments of  science  and  their  application  to  man's 
needs  as  a  result  of  the  inductive  study  of  funda- 
mental truths.  But,  he  asks,  "Who  can  assert  that 
statesmen  have  also  struggled  day  and  night  to  dis- 
cover and  to  announce  to  the  world  any  new  facts 
revealing  further  truth  about  the  science  of  govern- 
ment? Political  leaders  have  struggled  day  and 
night,  truly,  but  either  willingly  or  unwillingly 
.  .  .  have  often  hindered  the  discovery  of  real 
facts  relating  to  the  science  of  government.  So, 
unlike  the  edifice  of  science,  the  shameful  political 
chaos  we  have  to-day  is  the  product  of  ignorance. 
Our  civilization  is  morally  mildewed  .  .  .  im- 
217 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

bued  with  barbarous  prejudices  on  government, 
which  keep  alive  selfishness,  poverty,  ugliness,  de- 
ceit and  wickedness.  .  .  .  They  allow  ...  no 
leisure  in  which  to  turn  ...  to  the  supreme 
knowledge — to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  in 
reference  to  the  mystery  of  life  and  to  the  quest  of 
a  better  way  of  understanding  .  .  .  the  times  in 
which  we  live." 

Umano  appeals  for  an  International  Conference 
of  able  men  to  form  a  "basis  of  Positive  Scientific 
Principles  of  Government  upon  which  to  study  and 
eventually  solve  the  gravest  problems  of  the  day," 
this  to  replace  the  current  "balderdash,  a  rehash  of 
ancient  empirical  phrases  which  sound  like  noisy 
yawnings  in  comparison  with  the  reality  to  which 
the  positive  methods  of  all  other  sciences  have  accus- 
tomed us.  No  serious  result  can  be  hoped  from 
such  chatter.  Every  one  discusses  such  problems, 
not  on  the  basis  of  positive  principles  of  govern- 
ment but  on  the  basis  of  empirical  opinions  easily 
contradicted  by  other  opinions." 

Umano  goes  on  to  show  that  the  recognized  forms 
of  personal  and  public  right  have  been  extorted 
218 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

one  by  one  from  despotic  rulers  in  days  when  each 
demand  for  freedom  was  punished  as  crime.  The 
leaders  toward  freedom  "faced  prison  and  even 
death  itself  in  order  to  denounce  and  put  down 
government  arrogance  and  enabling  humanity  to 
enjoy  the  small  amount  of  government  sincerity  we 
possess  to-day.  But  they  generally  deduced  their 
principles  from  their  own  political  tendencies,  not 
from  a  pure  scientific  inquiry.  Some  of  them 
founded  their  principles  of  government  on  abstract 
or  divine  realities  instead  of  on  real  human  exi- 
gencies." 

Hence  Umano  makes  a  new  appeal  for  a  con- 
sensus of  positive  principles  of  human  relations, 
cut  loose  from  history  and  tradition  and  based  on 
the  unchanging  principles  of  science.  (Ccenobium, 
Lugano,  Switzerland,  May,  1914.) 

The  personal  rights  of  men  as  we  now  under- 
stand them  have  been  won  by  hard '  struggles 
against  tyranny.  They  have  often  been  imper- 
fectly won,  and  under  deceptive  names.  The  law 
of  nations  shows  the  same  imperfections.  It  is 
time  now,  with  all  our  breadth  of  knowledge  that 
219 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

law  should  rest  on  a  basis  of  science,  not  of  tra- 
dition. 

Changes  in  the  Map 

Numerous  authors  have  found  the  key  to  the 
problems  of  European  society  in  alterations  of  the 
political  map.  It  is  not  clear  that  any  or  all  of 
these  alterations,  ranging  from  the  return  of  the 
stolen  Dobruja  to  Bulgaria  to  the  wholesale  revi- 
sion of  Germany  in  the  Charte  des  Nations  of 
M.  Jean  L'Homme,  would  in  any  degree  reduce 
the  unrest  of  nations  or  the  prospects  of  interna- 
tional war.  If  national  security  is  our  aim,  no 
change  in  boundaries  should  be  made  in  time  of 
war,  as  a  result  of  war,  or  except  by  a  general 
consent  of  the  people  and  the  nations  concerned. 
Justice  may  sometimes  demand  an  abrupt  change — 
as  at  present  in  Armenia — but  not  usually  the 
interests  of  peace. 

.  A  present  transfer  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  France 
would  not  quiet  the  problem  of  that  distressed  na- 
tionality. More  important  than  change  of  bound- 
aries is  the  spread  of  justice  and  freedom  within 
the  boundaries.  The  plans  for  drastic  remodeling 
220 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

of  the  map  of  Europe  must  be  considered  as  useless 
and  so  far  as  their  influence  goes,  mischievous. 
Little  thought  seems  to  have  been  expended  on  the 
map  of  Africa,  but  the  disposition  of  that  gigantic 
area  looms  large  among  the  problems  of  the  future. 

Mr.  H.  G.  Wells,  who  is  especially  interested 
in  alterations  in  political  geography,  makes  the 
following  demands : 

"1.  An  indemnity  to  Belgium,  with  extension 
to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Mbrtmedy  and  Montjoie,  with 
neutralization  of  the  Rheinland. 

"2.  The  future  of  Alsace-Lorraine  to  be  de- 
cided by  France. 

"3.  An  autonomous  Poland  under  the  Czar,  to 
include  all  Polish  districts  but  no  other. 

"4.    A  greater  Serbia,  Roumania  and  Bulgaria. 

"5.    An  independent  Bohemia. 

"6.    The  division  of  Turkey. 

"7.  Serbia  and  Italy  jointly  to  bar  Austria 
from  the  Adriatic." 

These  changes  would  involve  "rights  of  con- 
quest," and  should  be  vitiated  by  that  very  fact. 
But  the  conquests  essential  to  the  scheme  have  yet 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

to  be  made.  All  indemnities  whatsoever  and  all 
"rights  of  conquest"  simply  point  the  way  to  fu- 
ture conflict. 

A  World-City  of  Civilization 

Among  the  many  attempts  to  humanize  civiliza- 
tion, a  great  majority  rest  on  law  or  on  education, 
a  very  few  on  co-operative  international  action. 
Of  these  few,  the  most  heroic,  the  most  picturesque 
and  the  most  daring  is  the  conception  of  a  co-op- 
erative world-city  of  civilization.  This  has  been 
the  lifework  of  Hendrik  Christian  Andersen,  a 
Norwegian-American  artist,  long  resident  in  Rome. 

Mr.  Andersen  has  conceived  a  world-city,  per- 
fect in  all  its  appointments,  a  creation  and  not  a 
growth,  its  adjustments  perfect,  its  architecture 
altogether  artistic,  its  sanitation  above  reproach, 
its  appointments  all  that  the  best  intelligence  and 
artistic  sense  can  make  them,  to  be  the  worthy 
capital  of  the  world  at  its  best,  the  city  when  com- 
plete to  be  wholly  neutral,  owned  by  all  nations 
alike — as  the  District  of  Columbia  is  the  equal 
property  of  all  American  states. 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

It  should  be  built  by  co-operative  effort,  and 
such  effort  binds  together  all  involved  in  the  labor. 
In  the  words  of  Mr.  Soterios  Nicholson,  one  of 
Mr.  Andersen's  disciples : 

"Long  has  the  world  wasted  its  energy  in  dis- 
sension and  in  discord.  Vainly  has  it  sought  to 
remedy  the  ill  through  the  machinery  of  diplo- 
macy. The  spirit  of  unity  can  be  bred,  if  at  all, 
by  actual  collaboration,  by  contact  of  soul  with 
soul  and  muscle  with  muscle  in  tests  of  creative 
import.  The  world-city,  when  established,  will  reg- 
ister a  great  step  in  the  realization  of  this  lofty 
ideal." 

The  proposed  city  is  an  oblong  rectangle  about 
three  times  as  long  as  broad  with  a  broad  avenue 
of  nations  in  the  midst,  with  squares  and  circles, 
a  tower  of  progress  near  the  end,  a  zoological  gar- 
den and  stadium  near  the  other. 

The  details  have  been  all  set  forth  in  a  folio 
volume  de  luxe,  itself  a  work  of  art  of  great  im- 
portance. The  artist  has  worked  without  reward 
toward  a  supreme  purpose,  which  the  world  will 
some  time  rise  to  appreciate.  In  Mr.  Nicholson's 
223 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

words,  "the  prize  has  been  the  effort  itself — th« 
compensation  the  fruits  picked  along  the  way." 

Now  that  the  plans  are  made,  two  questions 
arise.  Where  shall  the  city  be  built  and  who  shall 
build  it?  To  the  second  of  these  we  can  give  no 
answer.  Some  time  the  world  will  rise  to  the  level 
of  the  artist,  but  not  yet.  Some  time  some  one 
will  say,  as  the  Boston  people  said  of  Agassiz: 
"We  will  not  stand  by  and  see  so  brave  a  man 
struggle  without  aid." 

This  may  be  far  in  the  future,  but  the  work  is 
done  and  it  is  well  worth  doing. 

Where  shall  the  world-city  stand?  Preferably 
in  a  small  nation,  for,  under  present  evil  conditions, 
in  the  hyena  stage  of  nationality,  great  nations 
are  jealous  of  one  another.  It  can  not  replace 
any  existing  city,  for  to  tear  down  as  well  as  to 
build  would  double  all  difficulties  as  well  as  all  ex- 
pense. The  suburbs  of  a  great  city,  or  a  pic- 
turesque site  in  the  mountains  or  by  the  sea  ars 
favorably  indicated.  In  these  matters  Mr.  Ander- 
sen expresses  no  choice;  he  is  interested  primarily 
in  the  work,  not  in  the  location. 
224, 


INDIVIDUALS    AND    PEACE 

The  following  localities  are  under  consideration 
until  the  money  necessary  is  provided.  The  choice 
can  be  made  when  the  foundation  stones  are  in 
sight. 

A  suburb  of  The  Hague  in  Holland ;  Tervueren, 
a  suburb  of  Brussels ;  Athens ;  Berne ;  Macarese,  a 
suburb  of  Ostia,  port  of  Rome;  Frejus  in  the 
Riviera  of  France,  on  the  sea  adjoining  the  pic- 
turesque mountains  of  the  Esterel;  Montmorency, 
near  Paris,  or  some  place  as  Atlantic  City  or  As- 
bury  Park  on  the  coast  of  New  Jersey. 

In  the  interest  of  historic  sentiment  we  may  well 
place  Athens  first.  For  picturesque  beauty  of  site, 
Berne  or  Frejus;  for  convenience,  The  Hague  or 
Brussels;  and  there  are  locations  beautiful  and  fit 
in  Alsace  or  along  the  Rhine. 

But  aU  this  must  be  left  to  the  "World  Con- 
science," which  shall  have  the  details  of  building 
on  its  hands.  The  most  that  any  one  can  do  now 
is  to  give  a  word  of  appreciation  to  the  heroic  ar- 
tist who  so  unflinchingly  has  followed  the  sublime 
vision. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CASE  AGAINST  WAR 

The  Peace  That  Shall  Last 

UNDER  the  heading  Toward  the  Peace  That 
Shall  Last,*  a  committee  meeting  in  New 
York,  composed  of  Miss  Jane  Addams,  Miss  Emily 
G.  Balch,  William  Kent,  of  California,  Hamilton 
Holt,  Lillian  D.  Wald,  Paul  U.  Kellogg  and  about 
fifteen  other  leading  journalists  and  students  of  so- 
cial affairs,  has  furnished  the  best-considered  in- 
dictment of  war  that  has  yet  been  published. 

The  points  against  war  are  taken  up  in  this  doc- 
ument, one  after  another,  and  stated  epigrammat- 
ically,  without  argument  and  without  reference  to 
historic  examples. 

The  following  paragraphs  comprise  the  greater 
part  of  this  remarkable  document: 

"At  every  stage  of  warfare  in  the  past,  there 
have  been  men  and  women  in  all  nations  who  have 


*  The  Survey,  New  York. 

226 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

endeavored  to  abate  and  lessen  it.  Their  repeated 
endeavors  have  been  answered  only  by  repeated 
wars,  until  the  present  war  in  Europe  completes 
the  work  of  death,  desolation  and  tyranny. 

"In  spite  of  this,  these  protests  against  war 
are  destined  to  succeed;  as,  centuries  earlier  in  the 
history  of  the  race,  the  sentiment  of  pity,  of  re- 
spect for  human  life,  called  a  halt  to  senseless 
slaughter. 

"There  came  the  time,  for  example,  to  Greek  and 
Jewish  peoples  when  the  few  set  their  faces  against 
human  sacrifice  as  a  religious  rite  of  their  highest 
faith — bound  up,  like  our  wars,  with  old  fealties 
and  solemn  customs  and  with  their  most  desperate 
fears.  Humble  men  and  women,  out  of  sheer  affec- 
tion for  their  kind,  revolted.  In  face  of  persecu- 
tion and  ridicule  they  warned  their  countrymen 
that  in  pouring  human  blood  upon  altars  to  the 
gods,  they  wrought  upon  their  kind  more  irrep- 
arable wrong  than  any  evil  which  they  sought  to 
forfend.  Finally  there  came  to  be  enough  people 
with  courage  and  pity  sufficient  to  carry  a  genera- 
tion with  them. 

227 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

"It  took  these  peoples  many  centuries  to  rid 
themselves  of  human  sacrifice;  during  many  cen- 
turies more  they  relapsed  again  and  again,  in  pe- 
riods of  national  despair.  So  have  we  fallen  back 
into  warfare,  and  perhaps  will  fall  back  again  and 
again,  until,  in  self-pity,  in  self-defense,  in  self- 
assertion  of  the  right  to  life,  not  as  hitherto,  a 
few,  but  the  whole  people  of  the  world,  will  brook 
this  thing  no  longer. 

"By  that  opportunity,  now  ours  as  never  before, 
to  weigh  the  case  against  war  and  to  draw  the 
counts  from  burning  words  spoken  by  those  who 
protest  and  who  are  of  all  peoples — we  make  sin- 
gle judgment  and  complete  indictment. 

"By  that  good  fortune  which  has  placed  us  out- 
side the  conflict;  by  that  ill  fortune  by  which  the 
belligerent  and  his  rights  have  heretofore  bestrode 
the  world;  by  mine-strewn  channels,  and  by  inter- 
national codes  which  offer  scant  redress — we  speak 
as  people  of  a  neutral  nation. 

"By  the  unemployed  of  our  water-fronts,  and 
the  augmented  misery  of  our  cities;  by  the  finan- 
cial depression  which  has  curtailed  our  school  build- 
228 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

ing  and  crippled  our  works  of  good-will;  by  the 
sluicing  of  human  impulse  among  us  from  channels 
of  social  development  to  the  back-eddies  of  salvage 
and  relief — we  have  a  right  to  speak. 

"By  the  hot  anger  and  civil  strife  that  we  have 
known ;  by  our  pride,  vain-glory  and  covetousness ; 
by  the  struggles  we  have  made  for  national  integ- 
rity and  defense  of  our  hearthstones;  by  our  con- 
sciousness that  every  instinct  and  motive  and  ideal 
at  work  in  this  war,  however  lofty  or  however  base, 
has  had  some  counterpart  in  our  national  history 
and  our  current  life — we  can  speak  a  common  lan- 
guage. 

"By  that  comradeship  among  nations  which  has 
made  for  mutual  understanding;  by  those  inven- 
tions which,  binding  us  in  communication,  have 
put  the  horrors  of  war  at  our  doors;  by  the  me- 
chanical contrivances  which  have  multiplied  and  in- 
tensified those  horrors ;  by  the  quickening  human 
sympathies  which  have  made  us  sensitive  to  the 
hurts  of  others — we  can  speak  as  fellow  victims 
of  this  great  oppression. 

"By  our  heritage  from  the  embattled  nations; 
229 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

by  our  debt  to  them  for  languages  and  faiths  and 
social  institutions;  for  science,  scholarship  and  in- 
vention; by  the  broken  and  desolated  hearts  tliat 
will  come  to  us  when  the  war  ends ;  by  our  kinships 
and  our  unfeigned  friendships — we  can  speak  as 
brothers. 

"By  all  these  things  we  hold  the  present  oppor- 
tunity for  conscience-searching  and  constructive 
action  to  be  an  especial  charge  upon  us;  upon  the 
newcomers  among  us  from  the  fatherlands;  and 
upon  the  joint  youth  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  two 
Americas. 

"War  has  brought  low  our  conception  of  the 
preciousness  of  human  life  as  slavery  brought  low 
our  conception  of  human  liberty. 

"It  has  benumbed  our  growing  sense  of  the  nur- 
ture of  life ;  and  at  a  time  when  we  were  challenging 
Reichstag,  Parliament  and  Congress  with  the  need- 
lessness  of  infant  mortality  and  child  labor,  it  has 
entrenched  a  million  youths  with  cold  and  fever 
and  impending  death. 

"It  has  thwarted  the  chance  of  our  times  for 
the  fulfilment  of  life,  and  scattered  like  burst 
230 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

shrapnel  the  hands  of  the  sculptors  and  the  violin- 
ists, the  limbs  of  the  hurdlers  and  the  swimmers, 
the  sensitive  muscles  of  the  mechanics  and  the 
weavers,  the  throats  of  the  singers  and  the  inter- 
preters, the  eyes  of  the  astronomers  and  the  melt- 
ers — every  skilled  and  prescient  part  of  the  human 
body,  every  gift  and  competence  of  the  human 
mind. 

"It  has  set  back  our  promptings  toward  the 
conservation  of  life;  and  in  a  decade  when  Eng- 
land and  France  and  Russia,  Germany  and  Austria 
and  Belgium,  have  been  working  out  social  insur- 
ance against  the  hazards  of  peace,  it  has  thrown 
back  upon  the  world  an  unnumbered  company  of 
the  widowed  and  the  fatherless,  of  crippled  bread- 
winners and  of  aged  parents,  left  bereft  and  des- 
titute. 

"It  has  blocked  our  way  toward  the  ascent  of 
life;  and  in  a  century  which  has  seen  the  begin- 
nings of  efforts  to  upbuild  the  common  stock,  it 
has  cut  off  from  parenthood  the  strong,  the  cour- 
ageous and  the  high-spirited. 

"It  has,  in  its  development  of  armaments,  pitted 
human  flesh  against  machinery. 
231 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

"It  has  brought  strange  men  to  the  door-sills 
of  peaceful  people;  men  like  their  own  men,  bear- 
ing no  grudges  against  them ;  men  snatched  away 
from  their  fields  and  villages  where  their  fathers 
lie  buried,  to  kill  and  burn  and  destroy  till  this 
other  people  are  driven  from  their  homes  of  a  thou- 
sand years  or  sit  abject  and  broken. 

"It  has  stripped  farms  and  ruined  self-sustain- 
ing communities,  and  poured  into  a  bewildered 
march  for  succor  the  lame  and  aged  and  bedridden, 
the  little  children  and  the  women  great  with  child 
unborn. 

"It  has  set  vast  communities  at  the  task  of  re- 
habilitating economic  gains  won  through  centuries 
of  struggle  and  sacrifice;  and  not  until  these  are 
regained  will  they  be  free  to  think  not  merely  of 
living,  but  of  better  life. 

"It  has  razed  the  flowing  lines  in  which  the  art 
and  aspiration  of  earlier  generations  expressed 
themselves,  and  has  thus  waged  war  upon  the  dead. 

"It  has  tortured  and  twisted  the  whole  social 
fabric  of  the  living. 

"It  has  burdened  our  children  and  our  children's 
children  with  a  staggering  load  of  debt. 
232 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

"It  has  inundated  the  lowlands  of  the  world's 
economy  with  penury  and  suffering  unreckonable, 
hopelessly  undermining  standards  of  living  already 
much  too  low. 

"It  has  blasted  our  new  internationalism  in  the 
protection  of  working  women  and  children. 

"It  has  rent  and  trampled  upon  the  network  of 
world  co-operation  in  trade  and  craftsmanship 
which  was  making  all  men  fellow  workers. 

"It  has  distracted  our  minds  with  its  business 
of  destruction  and  has  stayed  the  forward  reach 
of  the  builders  among  men. 

"It  has  conscripted  physician  and  surgeon,  sum- 
moning them  from  research  and  the  prolongation 
of  life  to  the  patchwork  of  its  wreckage. 

"It  has  sucked  into  its  blood  and  mire  our  most 
recent  conquests  over  the  elements — over  electricity 
and  air  and  the  depths  of  ocean;  and  has  prosti- 
tuted our  prowess  in  engineering,  chemistry  and 
technology  to  the  service  of  terror  and  injury. 

"It  has  rent  our  trade  routes  and  systems  of 
transportation  into  runways  to  its  slaughter-pens, 
so  that  neither  volcanoes,  nor  earthquakes,  nor 
233 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

famine,  but  only  the  plagues,  can  match  war  in 
unbounded  disaster. 

"It  has,  by  its  compulsory  service,  made  patri- 
otism a  shell,  empty  of  liberty. 

"It  has  wrested  the  power  of  self-defense  from 
the  hands  of  freemen  who  wielded  lance  and  sword 
and  scythe,  and  has  set  them  as  machine  tenders 
to  do  the  bidding  of  their  masters. 

"It  has  set  up  the  military  independent  of  and 
superior  to  the  civil  power. 

"It  has  substituted  arbitrary  authority  for  the 
play  of  individual  conscience;  and  the  morals  of 
foot-loose  men  who  escape  identity  in  the  common 
uniform,  for  that  social  pressure  which  in  house- 
hold and  village,  in  neighborhood  and  state,  makes 
for  personal  responsibility,  for  decency  and  fair 
play. 

"It  has  battened  on  apathy,  unintelligence  and 
helplessness,  such  as  surrender  the  judgment  and 
volition  of  nations  into  a  few  hands ;  and  has  nul- 
lified rights  and  securities,  such  as  are  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  the  people  and  formidable  to  tyrants 
only. 

234 


"It  has  threatened  the  results  of  a  hundred  mar- 
tyrdoms and  revolutions,  and  put  in  jeopardy  those 
free  governments  which  make  possible  still  newer 
social  conquests. 

"It  has  crushed  under  iron  heels  the  uprisings 
of  civilization  itself. 

"It  has  massed  and  exploded  the  causes  of  strife. 

"It  has  not  only  shattered  men's  breasts,  but 
has  let  loose  the  black  fury  of  their  hearts ;  so  that 
in  rape,  and  cruelty,  and  rage,  ancient  brutishness 
trails  at  the  heels  of  all  armies. 

"It  has  set  faithful  against  faithful,  priest 
against  priest,  prayers  against  prayers  for  that 
success  of  one  army  which  means  slaughter  for 
both. 

"It  has  made  werewolves  of  neighboring  peo- 
ples, in  the  imaginations  of  each  other. 

"It  has  put  its  stamp  upon  growing  boys  and 
girls,  and  taught  them  to  hate  other  children  who 
have  chanced  to  be  born  on  the  other  side  of  some 
man-made  boundary. 

"It  has  inbred  with  the  ugliest  strains  of  com- 
mercialism, perverting  to  its  purposes  the  increase 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

of  over-dense  populations  and  their  natural  yearn- 
ing for  new  opportunities  for  enterprise  and  live- 
lihood. 

"It  has  whetted  among  neutral  nations  a  lust 
to  profit  by  furnishing  the  means  to  prolong  its 
struggles. 

"It  has  turned  the  towers  of  art  and  science 
into  new  Babels,  so  that  our  philosophers  and  men 
of  letters,  our  physicists  and  geographers,  our 
economists  and  biologists  and  dramatists  speak  in 
strange  tongues ;  and  to  hate  each  other  has  become 
a  holy  thing  among  them. 

"It  has  found  a  world  of  friends  and  neighbors, 
and  substituted  a  world  of  outlanders  and  aliens 
and  enemies. 

"It  has  burned  itself  into  men's  souls  as  an  evil 
fact  of  life,  to  be  accepted  along  with  every  other 
good  and  evil,  instead  of  what  it  is — a  survival  of 
barbarism  which  can  and  should  be  ended. 

"It  has  violated  the  finer  sensibilities  of  the 
race,  and  weakened  our  claim  upon  them  for  the 
betterment  of  the  conditions  under  which  people 
live. 

236 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

"It  has  given  the  lie  to  the  teachings  of  mis- 
sionaries and  educators,  and  will  stay  civilization 
in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 

"It  has  lessened  the  number  of  those  who  feel 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  all  peoples  as  of  their  own. 

"It  has  strangled  truth  and  paralyzed  the  power 
and  wish  to  face  it,  and  has  set  up  monstrous  and 
irreconcilable  myths  of  self- justification. 

"It  has  mutilated  the  human  spirit. 

"It  has  become  a  thing  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing. 

"We  have  heard  the  call  from  overseas  of  those 
who  have  appealed  to  men  and  women  of  good-will 
in  all  nations  to  join  with  them  in  throwing  off 
this  tyranny  upon  life. 

"We  would  go  further;  we  would  throw  open  a 
peace  which  should  be  other  than  a  shadow  of  old 
wars  and  a  foreshadowing  of  new.  We  do  more 
than  plead  with  men  to  stay  their  hands  from 
killing.  We  hail  living  men.  As  peace-lovers,  we 
charge  them  with  the  sanctity  of  human  life;  as 
democrats  and  freemen,  we  charge  them  with  its 
sovereignty. 

237 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

"By  the  eight  million  natives  of  the  warring 
states  living  among  us  without  malice  or  assault 
one  upon  another,  we  would  leave  the  occasions  of 
fighting  no  longer  for  idle  war  boards  to  decide. 

"By  the  blow  our  forbears  struck  at  barbarism 
when  they  took  vengeance  out  of  private  hands, 
we  would  wrest  the  manufacture  of  armaments  and 
deadly  weapons  from  the  gun-mongers  and  pow- 
der-makers who  gain  by  it. 

"By  those  electric  currents  that  have  cut  the 
ground  from  under  the  old  service  of  diplomacy, 
and  spread  the  new  intelligence,  we  would  put  the 
ban  upon  intrigue  and  secret  treaties. 

"For  we  hold  that  not  soldiers,  nor  profit-takers, 
nor  diplomats,  but  the  people  who  suffer  and  bear 
the  brunt  of  war,  should  determine  whether  war 
must  be;  that  with  ample  time  for  investigation 
and  publicity  of  its  every  cause  and  meaning,  with 
recourse  to  every  avenue  for  mediation  and  settle- 
ment abroad,  war  should  come  only  by  the  slow 
process  of  self-willing  among  men  and  women  who 
solemnly  publish  and  declare  it  to  be  a  last  and 
sole  resort. 

238 


THE    CASE    AGAINST    WAR 

"With  our  treatied  borderland,  three  thousand 
miles  in  length,  without  fort  or  trench  from  Atlan- 
tic to  Pacific,  which  has  helped  weld  us  for  a  cen- 
tury of  unbroken  peace  with  our  neighbors  to  the 
north,  we  would  spread  faith,  not  in  entrenched 
camps,  but  in  open  boundaries. 

"With  the  pact  of  our  written  constitution  be- 
fore us,  which  binds  our  own  sovereign  states  in 
amity,  we  are  convinced  that  treaty-making  may 
be  lifted  to  a  new  and  inviolable  estate,  and  become 
the  foundation  for  that  world  organization  which 
for  all  time  shall  make  for  peace  on  earth  and  good- 
will among  men. 

"With  our  experience  in  lesser  conflicts  in  in- 
dustrial life,  which  have  none  the  less  embraced 
groups  as  large  as  armies,  have  torn  passions  and 
rasped  endurance  to  the  uttermost,  we  can  bear 
testimony  that  at  the  end  of  such  strife  as  cleaves 
to  the  heart  of  things,  men  are  disposed  to  lay  the 
framework  of  their  relations  in  larger  molds  than 
those  which  broke  beneath  them. 

"With  our  ninety  million  people,  drawn  from 
Alpine  and  Mediterranean,  Danubean,  Baltic  and 
239 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

Slavic  stocks,  with  a  culture  blended  from  these 
different  affluents,  we  hold  that  progress  lies  in  the 
predominance  of  none ;  and  that  the  civilization  of 
each  nation  needs  to  be  refreshed  by  that  com- 
mingling with  the  genius  and  the  type  of  other 
human  groups,  that  blending  which  began  on  the 
coast  lands  and  islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea,  where 
European  civilization  first  drew  its  sources  from 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile. 

"With  memories  of  the  tyranny  which  provoked 
our  Revolution,  with  the  travail  still  upon  us  by 
which  our  people  in  turn  paid  for  the  subjection 
of  another  race,  with  the  bitterness  only  now  as- 
suaged which  marked  our  period  of  mistrust  and 
reconstruction,  we  bear  witness  that  boundaries 
should  be  set  where  not  force,  but  justice  and  con- 
sanguinity, direct;  and  that,  however  boundaries 
fall,  liberty  and  the  flowering  out  of  native  culture 
should  be  secure. 

"With  America's  fair  challenge  to  the  spirit  of 
the  east  and  to  the  chivalry  of  the  west  in  stand- 
ing for  the  open  door  in  China  when  that  empire, 
now  turned  republic,  was  threatened  by  dismem- 
240 


THE    CASE   AGAINST   WAR 

berment,  we  call  for  the  freeing  of  the  ports  ov 
every  ocean  from  special  privilege  based  on  terri- 
torial claim — throwing  them  open  with  equal  chance 
to  all  who  by  their  ability  and  energy  can  serve 
new  regions  with  mutual  benefit. 

"With  the  faith  our  people  have  kept  with  Cuba, 
the  regard  we  have  shown  for  the  integrity  of  Mex- 
ico and  our  preparations  for  the  independence  of 
the  Philippine  Islands,  we  urge  the  framing  of  a 
common  colonial  policy  which  shall  put  down  that 
predatory  exploitation  which  has  embroiled  the 
west  and  oppressed  the  east,  and  shall  stand  for 
an  opportunity  for  each  latent  and  backward  race 
to  build  up  according  to  its  own  genius. 

"By  our  full  century  of  ruthless  waste  of  for- 
est, ore  and  fuel;  by  the  vision  which  has  come 
to  us  in  these  later  days,  of  conserving  to  the  per- 
manent uses  of  the  people  the  water-power  and 
natural  wealth  of  our  public  domain,  we  propose 
the  laying  down  of  a  world  policy  of  conservation. 

"By  that  tedium  and  monotony  of  life  and  labor 
endured  by  vast  multitudes  until,  when  war  drums 
sound,  the  wage-earner  leaps  from  his  bench,  and 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    FEACE 

the  harvester  forsakes  his  field,  we  hold  that  the 
ways  of  peace  should  be  so  cast  as  to  make  stirring 
appeal  to  the  heroic  qualities  in  men,  and  give 
common  utterance  to  the  rhythm  and  beauty  of 
national  feeling. 

"By  the  joy  of  our  people  in  the  conquest  of 
a  continent;  by  the  rousing  of  all  Europe,  when 
the  great  navigators  threw  open  the  new  Indies 
and  the  New  World,  we  conceive  a  joint  existence 
such  that  the  achieving  instincts  among  men,  not 
as  one  nation  against  another,  nor  as  one  class 
against  another,  but  as  one  generation  after  an- 
other, shall  have  freedom  to  come  into  their  own." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WORLD    FEDERATION 

The  Federation  of  Europe 

THE  Federation  of  Europe  may  be  possible 
just  so  soon  or  so  far  as  the  European  peoples 
of  these  states  take  possession  of  their  governments. 
The  present  war  is  the  natural  outcome  of  the  "dou- 
ble standard"  of  politics.     In  democratic  Europe 
the  people  create  and  maintain  the  nation,  and  the 
morality  of  the  state  is  a  measure  of  the  collective 
morality  of  the  people.  In  other  regions,  the  theory 
has  been  taught  for  centuries  that  the  state  is  above 
the  people,  who  are  its  chattels,  and  that  the  state 
can  not  do  wrong,  as  there  is  no  authority  above  it. 
Individuals  are  capable  of  right  and  wrong  be- 
cause the  state  can  enforce  its  standards  upon 
them.     These  standards,  the  work  of  the  state,  are 
made  evident  by  the  force  of  the  state  and  the 
authority  of  the  state  church.     The  duty  of  a, 
243 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

good  citizen  has  been  thus  summed  up:  "Soldat 
seln;  Steuer  zalilen;  Mund  lialten"  ("Be  a  sol- 
dier; pay  taxes;  hold  your  tongue.")  The  small 
state  has  no  rights  in  this  system  because  it  has 
no  power  to  enforce  its  rights.  It  is  merely  part 
of  a  sphere  of  influence.  "The  one  sin  on  the  part 
of  a  state  is  feebleness ;  politically  it  is  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost." 

It  is  evident  that  a  state  under  autocratic  dic- 
tion can  not  readily  federate  with  a  state  that  the 
people  control.  It  is  evident  also  that,  given  an 
adequate  number  of  political  agitators,  each  type 
of  state  is  a  menace  to  the  other. 

No  one  can  see  a  month  ahead  into  the  history 
of  Europe.  It  is,  however,  probable  that  there 
may  exist  the  materials  for  a  league  of  peace,  a 
league  of  self-governing  people  to  whom  the  army 
will  be  merely  of  the  nature  of  police  for  mutual 
protection.  Such  a  league  would  be  essentially  a 
democracy,  for  real  peace  rests  on  a  condition  of 
mutual  trust. 

Free  trade  within  Europe  along  with  inter- 
changeable citizenship  and  the  suppression  of  se- 
244 


WORLD    FEDERATION 

cret  diplomacy  would  virtually  raise  the  European 
states  to  the  condition  of  those  in  America.  It 
would  be  a  similar  federation,  with  considerable 
more  emphasis  laid  on  "State  Rights."  It  will  not 
be  easily  secured,  but  nothing  politically  worth 
while  can  be  gained  without  great  effort.  "Small 
efforts,"  says  John  Stuart  Mill,  "do  not  produce 
great  effects.  They  produce  no  effects  at  all." 
The  Congress  of  Vienna,  after  the  downfall  of 
Napoleon,  tried  to  provide  for  perpetual  peace  by 
exalting  the  power  of  the  kings  and  cutting  up 
the  territories  as  though  the  people  were  mere 
flocks  of  sheep.  The  constructive  work  of  the  fu- 
ture must  stand  on  a  broader  basis.  It  must  con- 
sider, not  the  status  of  dynasties  or  the  traditions 
of  nationality,  but  the  actual  welfare  of  the  people 
themselves. 

To  a  large  extent,  the  democratic  nations  of 
Europe  now  trust  one  another.  Allies  perforce  in 
times  of  war,  the  real  alliance  will  endure  in  times 
of  peace.  It  is  a  mutual  arrangement  for  mu- 
tual security.  Such  an  alliance  would  be  greatly 
strengthened  by  customs  unions  and  postal  unions. 
245 


WAYS    TO   LASTING   PEACE 

It  is  likely  that  the  Federation  will  exist  in  fact 
before  it  does  in  form.  The  fact  is  the  real  thing. 
The  United  States  of  Europe  will  grow  up  of  it- 
self when  the  people  everywhere  take  charge  of 
their  own  affairs.  World  politics  has  become  more 
pressing  than  local  politics  and  it  can  no  longer 
be  carried  on  in  the  dark.  Its  "ape  and  tiger" 
degeneration  conies  from  the  fact  that  in  most  na- 
tions it  has  lain  in  the  hands  of  the  privileged  few, 
hermetically  sealed  from  the  light  of  publicity. 

The  loose  relation  that  joins  the  dominions  of 
Great  Britain  is  perhaps  the  most  natural  type 
of  the  Federation  of  Europe.  A  single  unified 
world  government,  under  one  set  of  men  gathered 
at  some  one  place,  is  only  a  dream  and  not  a  very 
promising  one  at  that.  What  the  world  needs  is 
more  self-control,  more  personal  responsibility, 
more  willingness  to  live  and  let  live,  not  more  gov- 
ernmental machinery.  Nevertheless,  every  bond  of 
union  in  international  life  helps  the  advance  of 
civilization.  Every  step  in  removing  injustice,  in 
eliminating  sources  of  friction,  in  extending  com- 
mon interests,  in  making  war  more  difficult,  are  all 
246 


WORLD    FEDERATION 

steps  to  the  final  aim — mutual  trust  and  interna- 
tional co-operation.  The  humanization  of  nations 
means  the  passing  of  war. 

"The  muddy  stream  of  hatred  and  falsehood," 
says  Doctor  Heilberg,  of  Breslau,*  "has  inundated 
and  covered  with  mud  many  things,  but  when  that 
stream  shall  have  passed  away,  sooner  or  later 
(let  us  hope  it  will  be  soon),  peace  will  have  been 
concluded,  and  from  out  this  mud  there  will  grow 
and  blossom  again  the  honest  common  work,  mu- 
tual esteem,  mutual  love  and  the  spiritual  unity  of 
all  who  will  serve  the  common  welfare  of  humanity." 

Utopia  or  Hell 

The  conception  of  a  continent,  in  which  each 
nation  should  be  governed  by  wisdom,  and  that 
wisdom  the  resultant  of  the  collective  intelligence 
of  the  people,  is  yet  far  from  realization.  It  is, 
in  fact,  a  dream  of  Utopia.  And  yet  it  must  by 
degrees  become  actual  if  civilization  is  not  to  end 
in  a  blind  sac  and  a  pool  of  blood.  The  issue  is 
frankly  presented.  In  the  words  of  Hamilton  Holt, 

*  Vossische  Zeitung,  January,  1915. 
247 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

the  goal  must  be  "Utopia  or  Hell,"  civilization  or 
militarism.  And  all  those  \vho  believe  in  the  no- 
bility of  human  nature,  who  believe  that  every  hu- 
man problem  can  be  solved  by  human  intelligence, 
who  believe  that  this  is  God's  world  and  not  the 
Devil's,  should  face  the  future  undismayed. 

From  a  private  letter  of  a  distinguished  pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  London,  under  the  date 
of  August  18,  1914,  I  take  these  words: 

"I  want  you  to  realize  the  conviction  among 
many  friends  of  peace  and  sanity  in  Europe  that 
the  fate  of  civilization  in  the  present  crisis  may 
depend  chiefly  on  the  action  of  the  United  States. 

"The  war  must  come  to  an  end  some  day,  but 
the  patient  efforts  of  a  neutral  and  disinterested 
power  may  make  the  difference  between  one  year 
and  ten  years  of  fighting  and  starving.  That 
power  can  only  be  America — for  she  alone  among 
the  great  powers  is  really  disinterested.  And  it 
is  fortunate  for  the  world  that  President  Wilson 
has  inspired  throughout  Europe,  not  only  confi- 
dence in  his  motives,  but  personal  regard.  .  .  . 

"In  the  presence  of  such  an  enormous  complex- 
248 


WORLD    FEDERATION 

ity  of  interests  and  passions,  any  approach  to  a 
European  understanding  must  be  slow  and  difficult, 
but  it  may  be  possible  to  create  a  basis,  however 
uncertain,  for  future  negotiation. 

"A  few  months  ago  it  would  have  seemed  Uto- 
pian, in  spite  of  all  the  religions  and  philosophies, 
to  urge  that  the  members  of  any  great  nation 
should  act  from  mere  pity  for  the  men  and  women 
who  make  up  with  them  the  human  race.  To-day 
it  seems  the  simplest  and  strongest  of  all  claims." 

The  Passing  of  Nationalism 

The  conception  of  a  world  dominated  spiritually 
by  one  priest  and  physically  by  one  emperor,  rul- 
ing likewise  by  divine  right,  and  to  whom  kings, 
princes  and  cities  in  varied  fashion  paid  tribute, 
passed  away  with  the  Middle  Ages.  This  loose- 
jointed  imperialism  gave  way  to  the  compact  in- 
dividual units  of  feudalism.  The  struggle  of  rival 
cities,  of  greedy  Tjarons  and  of  lawless  soldiers  of 
fortune  wrought  the  downfall  of  feudalism. 

Nationalism,  the  federated  alliances  of  like 
groups,  succeeded.  A  nation  is  a  body  of  people 


WAYS    TO    LASTING    PEACE 

at  peace  among  themselves.  The  good  side  of  na- 
tionalism is  evident,  the  development  of  local  in- 
stitutions, of  local  pride  and  of  neighborly  good- 
will. But  the  evil  passions  of  men  have  given  it 
an  evil  side.  The  national  feeling  or  "patriotism" 
that  spends  itself  in  envy,  fear  or  hatred  of  one's 
neighbors  is  a  thoroughly  evil  spirit.  By  forcing 
the  arming  of  nations  against  one  another  this 
spirit  has  brought  about  the  greatest  catastrophe 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  That  one  nation  may 
be  more  to  blame  for  this  than  another  does  not 
change  the  nature  of  the  calamity.  All  civilized 
nations  were  heavily  armed,  grotesquely,  crush- 
ingly,  wickedly  armed.  The  great  achievement  of 
a  few  decades  of  peace  had  brought  civilization  to 
an  estate  of  which  militant  feudalism  could  not 
conceive.  The  abuse  of  nationalism  has  carried 
Europe  backward  financially  and  socially  for  a  gen- 
eration, biologically  for  a  century.  It  has  put  the 
whole  system  of  nationalism  on  trial.  It  has  forced 
the  world  to  look  forward  to  the  next  era,  that 
of  Federation.  Complete  federation  with  auton- 
omy must  sooner  or  later  follow  nationalism,  even 
250 


as  partial  race  federation  (nationalism)  succeeded 
the  anarchy  of  feudalism.  Such  a  change  will 
not  take  place  instantly,  nor  without  opposition. 
But  the  progress  of  the  federated  states  of  our 
union,  each  of  which,  retaining  autonomy  or  local 
self-government,  has  given  up  its  armies,  its  tariffs 
and  its  special  citizenship  for  the  common  good, 
indicates  the  route  which  civilized  government  must 
traverse.  As  surely  as  feudalism  gave  place  to  na- 
tionalism, as  certainly  as  day  follows  the  night,  so 
must  Nationalism  merge  into  Federation  in  the 
movement  of  civilization. 


APPENDIX 

The  Peace  Pilgrimage 

A  ATTEMPT  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
world  to  the  need  of  immediate  peace 
through  a  demonstration  on  the  part  of  neutral 
nations  is  projected  by  Mr.  Henry  Ford,  of  De- 
troit. This  movement  can  not  fail  to  have  impor- 
tant results  through  voicing  a  wide-spread  yearning 
for  peace,  though  its  effects  may  not  be  immediate 
or  even  visible.  At  the  least,  it  is  an  honest  attempt 
to  make  new  history  in  a  new  way.  The  nature 
and  the  purpose  of  this  "Peace  Pilgrimage"  are 
thus  set  forth  in  personal  letters  by  Mr.  Ford : 

"From  the  moment  I  realized  that  the  world  sit- 
uation demands  immediate  action  if  we  do  not  want 
the  war  fire  to  spread  any  further,  I  joined  those 
international  forces  which  are  working  toward  end- 
ing this  unparalleled  catastrophe.  This  I  recognize 
as  my  human  duty.  .  .  . 
252 


APPENDIX 

"Envoys  to  thirteen  belligerent  and  neutral  gov- 
ernments have  ascertained  in  forty  visits  that  there 
is  a  universal  peace  desire.  This  peace  desire,  for 
the  sake  of  diplomatic  etiquette,  never  can  be  ex- 
pressed openly  or  publicly  until  one  side  or  the 
other  is  definitely  defeated  or  until  both  sides  are 
entirely  exhausted. 

"For  fifteen  months  the  people  of  the  world  have 
waited  for  the  governments  to  act ;  have  waited  for 
governments  to  lead  Europe  out  of  its  unspeakable 
agony  and  suffering  and  to  prevent  Europe's  en- 
tire destruction.  As  European  neutral  governments 
are  unable  to  act  without  co-operation  of  our  gov- 
ernment, and  as  our  government  for  unknown  rea- 
sons has  not  offered  this  co-operation,  no  further 
time  can  be  wasted  in  waiting  for  governmental 
action. 

"In  order  that  their  sacrifice  may  not  have  been 
in  vain,  humanity  owes  it  to  the  millions  of  men 
led  like  cattle  to  the  slaughter  house,  that  a  su- 
preme effort  be  made  to  stop  this  wicked  waste  of 
life. 

"The  people  of  the  belligerent  countries  did  not 
253 


WAYS    TO   LASTING    PEACE 

want  the  war.  The  people  did  not  make  it.  The 
people  want  peace.  The  world  looks  to  us,  to  Amer- 
ica, to  lead  in  ideals.  The  greatest  mission  ever 
before  a  nation  is  ours.  .  .  . 

"Men  and  women  of  our  country  representing 
all  its  ideals  and  all  of  its  activities  will  start  from 
New  York  on  the  fourth  of  December  aboard  the 
Scandinavian-American  Steamship,  Oscar  II.  The 
peace  ship  which  carries  the  American  delegation 
will  proceed  to  Christiania  [thence  to  Stockholm 
and  Copenhagen,  reinforced  at  each  point  by  work- 
ers for  democracy,  thence  to  The  Hague,  meeting 
delegations  from  Switzerland  and  Spain]. 

"From  all  these  various  delegations  will  be  se- 
lected a  small  deliberative  body  which  shall  sit  in 
one  of  the  neutral  capitals.  Here  it  will  be  joined 
by  a  limited  number  of  authorities  of  international 
promise  from  each  belligerent  country. 
This  international  conference  will  be  an  agency  for 
continuous  mediation.  It  will  be  dedicated  to  the 
stoppage  of  this  hideous  international  carnage  and 
.  .  .  to  the  prevention  of  future  wars  through 
the  abolition  of  competitive  armaments.  .  .  . 
254 


APPENDIX 

"In  case  of  a  governmental  call,  ...  we 
will  then  place  our  united  strength  solidly  behind 
those  entrusted  by  the  governments  to  carry  on 
peace  negotiations." 


fliJIlllII 

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